DHARAMSALA, India — The Dalai Lama’s office said Tuesday the Tibetan leader was ready for the resumption of talks with China as suggested by US President Barack Obama during his trip to Beijing.
“We are always willing to have talks with China and we hope both sides — the Chinese as well as the Tibetans — are true to their intentions,” Chime Chhoekyapa, spokesman of the exiled Tibetan leader, told AFP.
He acknowledged that more radical Tibetan groups were against talking, but said the Dalai Lama was committed to dialogue in his quest for “meaningful autonomy” for Tibet from China.
In Beijing, Obama said the United States recognised Tibet as part of China, but that Washington “supports the early resumption of dialogue” between the Dalai Lama’s envoys and Beijing.
Following foreign pressure, two envoys of the Buddhist monk met Chinese officials in July last year for the seventh round of a dialogue process that was started in 2002.
The July talks in Beijing followed an informal meeting in May last year, also in China.
China in March this year said it was open to fresh discussions over Tibet with the Dalai Lama but repeated demands for him to renounce “separatist” activities, which the spiritual leader already denies.
“His Holiness the Dalai Lama has said we are not seeking separation or independence” from Chinese rule, Chhoekyapa added, speaking by phone from Dharamshala in northern India.
The Dalai Lama has been living in India since he fled Tibet following a failed uprising in 1959 against Chinese rule, nine years after Chinese troops invaded the region.
