By Kelsang Rinchen,
Phayul Reporter
Dharamsala, June 11 – With all eyes and ears on the return of the second delegation to China earlier this week, Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Mr. Lodi Gyari, who headed the Task Force, said China has acknowledged the efforts made by the Tibetan leadership to create a conducive environment.
This marks the second visit of Tibetan delegation to China and Tibet since last September when the relationship between Dharamsala and Beijing took a fresh turn with the visit of a four-member team to China and Tibet.
The delegation had met with Mr. Liu Yangdong, head of the United Front Work Department, which hosted this visit.
The delegation called on His Holiness the Dalai Lama this morning in the Indian capital. ‘His Holiness the Dalai Lama expressed pleasure over the positive assessment of the recent direct contact between the two sides’, Mr. Gyari said.
His Holiness has asked the team to make efforts to advance this process further. The Kalon Tripa Prof. Samdhong Rinpoche also expressed his wish to carry on the present course of creating a congenial atmosphere for the continuation of the process of rapprochement.
The statement, however, did not mention anything about the delegation’s response or opinion on the recent deportation of 18 Tibetan refugees to Tibet by Nepal under China’s behest just after five days of the delegation’s visit.
The delegation, besides their main objective of continuing the process begun in September last year, also sought to ‘broaden its overall understanding of the situation in China through visits to different areas and meeting officials, to meet Chinese Buddhist leaders and to visit Buddhist holy sites and to visit Tibetan areas and meet Tibetan officials’.
Mr. Gyari expressed his happiness about the attention and candour displayed by the Chinese leaders. He said that both sides agreed over existence of twists and turns in the past relationship and that many disagreements still exist. The need to work towards addressing problems and to bring about mutual trust and understanding was felt by both sides.
Kelsang Rinchen can be contacted at kalsangr@yahoo.com.
