ELECTIONS '98
COMMENTARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ARCHIVES

Will Dalai Lama return to China?

As the Dalai Lama begins his United States visit Wednesday, hopes are high for a statement that could make a breakthrough in resuming negotiations with China.

Last week, the Hong Kong press reported that the statement being prepared for Tibet's spiritual leader may address the long-festering issue of Tibet's political status, which, in turn, may even pave way for his first visit to mainland China in 40 years.

"We are in a pre-negotiation mode. This is a critical initial period," Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, president of the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet, was quoted in a Chinese daily, "There has been progress through various channels for the past year-and-a-half."

Word that the Dalai Lama is preparing to make political overtures to China comes just weeks after Beijing and Taipei held their highest-level talks in half a century.

President Jiang Zemin met Taipei's top negotiator Koo Chen-Fu. A reciprocal visit by Beijing envoy Wang Daohan is expected next year.

The talks come three years after discussions broke off between the mainland and Taiwan, which Beijing regards as renegade province. Though differences remain between the two, the resumption of talks on Taiwan has raised hopes that the political climate is more favourable for talks between the Dalai Lama and Beijing.

Meanwhile, China has refuted the report that the Dalai Lama was planning to visit Beijing for possible talks.

It called on the Dalai Lama to prove that he did not advocate independence for Tibet.

''There will be no such thing,'' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhu Bangzao snapped, asked to respond to reports from New Delhi about the Dalai Lama's pilgrimage to Mount Wutai in Shanxi province in December.

Zhu railed against the Dalai Lama for continuing to advocate autonomy for the fervently Buddhist region internationally while talks with Beijing continued.

''He should take concrete action to show that he has changed his mind and not propose independence of Tibet," he said, "He should show that he is really willing to do something for the solidarity between the Tibetans and the entire Chinese nation.''

UNI

Tell us what you think of this report