No conditions set suggests the theory is correct: the Cadre does not have a plan: the Cadre proposed the talks in order to grab a couple of positive headlines and stall. The Neo Red Guards still in power. And now the Cadre is overwhelmed by shouting about the collapse of buildings at Chengdu. It is the plagues of 08: Tibet, Zimbabwe, Torch, Burma, now Chengdu. More to come as the Olympics approaches. The Cadre is flimsy and gloomy. The feeling is that the curses must be survived. Cadre self-pity is a wonderfully dangerous moment. It will make mistakes in rage and frustration.
Dalai Lama's Envoys
To Talk With Chinese
No Conditions Set;
Transparency Calls
Are Reiterated
By PETER WONACOTT
May 13, 2008; Page A8
DHARMSALA, India -- The Dalai Lama said Monday he expects his envoys to hold talks with Chinese officials next month, even as bitterness lingers from recent protests.
A one-day meeting earlier this month in Shenzhen, China, between the two sides concluded without any sign of consensus.
CONFLICT IN TIBET
Associated Press
Find complete coverage of the conflict in Tibet, including a timeline of the Dalai Lama's relationship with China and the latest news and a history of Tibetan resistance.
The Tibetan spiritual leader spoke in an interview outside his residence in this north India hill town, headquarters for Tibet's government in exile following a mass exodus of Tibetans from China in 1959.
"We have proposed" more talks, he said. Though he didn't lay down conditions, the Dalai Lama repeated demands that international organizations and foreign media be allowed to investigate the recent unrest in Tibet. He also said the Chinese government should conduct a review of how it administers the autonomous region and other areas where Tibetans live in China.
"Now the time has come for the Chinese government to conduct a thorough, realistic review," the 72-year-old Buddhist leader said, a maroon shawl wrapped around his crimson and mustard robes. "They have poured in billions [of dollars]. But they have failed to bring satisfaction to Tibetan life. They have to find out what's wrong."
Tenzin Choejor, Office of the Dalai Lama
There had been no official response from the Chinese government to the Tibetan offer, he added. The United Front Office, the Communist Party department that represents the Chinese side, didn't respond to questions Monday.
The situation in Tibet remains unsettled, and leaders of the two sides have blamed each other for the violence. Earlier this month, Chinese President Hu Jintao suggested that contacts should continue, but accused the Dalai Lama of being a separatist and of stirring up protests in Tibet. Tibetan exile groups have said more than 200 people, mostly Tibetan, have been killed in the unrest; the Chinese government has put the death toll at 22.
In the interview, the Dalai Lama repeated his pledge to step down as leader of Tibet's freedom struggle should the movement turn violent. He said the protests represent a backlash to Beijing's efforts to stifle human rights and religious freedom in Tibetan areas of China. "Please investigate," he implored the Chinese government. "If we are really the instigator, we are awaiting punishment." The Dalai Lama then chuckled deeply.
The Dalai Lama is scheduled to depart for Europe Wednesday to conduct a series of Buddhist teachings in Germany and Britain and meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Enlisting support from foreign leaders has been an important part of the Dalai Lama's efforts to bring China to the bargaining table over Tibet's future.
Beijing has bristled at what it sees as foreign interference in a domestic issue. Chinese officials have called the Dalai Lama a "wolf in monk's robes," and state-run media have whipped up popular opposition to the Tibetan leader.
The Dalai Lama said he witnessed more Chinese students protesting against him during a recent visit to the U.S., but the perception that he is anti-China or opposed to Beijing's hosting the Olympics is "100% wrong."
"We always respect and admire the Chinese people," he said. To make headway this time around, Tibetan and Chinese negotiators must work amid the charged political environment. And they need to overcome suspicions of each other and set aside charges of missed opportunities in the past, analysts said.
"There's 30 years of mistrust between them," said A. Tom Grunfeld, a Tibet scholar at Empire State College of the State University of New York. "That's the elephant in the room."
At the same time, new talks may serve the interests of both sides. China is hoping to ease political tensions -- both inside the country and abroad -- as it gears up to host the Summer Olympics. For his part, the Dalai Lama, who supports only peaceful means of widening Tibet's autonomy, has no real alternatives to dialogue.
Write to Peter Wonacott at peter.wonacott@wsj.com
History of Resistance:
Tibet and China: A History of Conflict
By SHAI OSTER in Xiahe, China, GORDON FAIRCLOUGH and JAMES T. AREDDY in Shanghai and JASON LEOW in Beijing
March 17, 2008; Page A3
After Chinese troops occupied Tibet in 1951 and China's Communist Party first started running the territory, Tibetans were expected to convert to Socialism over time -- an official policy of "gradualism." Land-reform efforts that began in the second half of the 1950s, however, sparked resistance when authorities tried to take land from temples. Anger at these moves helped propel an uprising in 1959, after which the Dalai Lama fled.
With the onset of the Cultural Revolution in 1966, religion came under attack across China. Tibetan monks were forced out of monasteries. Many were forced to marry in violation of their vows of celibacy. Communist Red Guards destroyed many temples. The use of the Tibetan language was outlawed.
Thousands of Tibetan women silently protested against Communist Chinese occupation and repression in 1959, in Lhasa, Tibet.
These hard-line policies began to shift when reformers led by Deng Xiaoping took control of the party after the death of Mao Zedong. Historians see the 1980s as somewhat of a golden era in Beijing's Tibet policy. Monasteries were rebuilt and monks returned. People were again allowed to practice their religion publicly and Tibetan culture was promoted.
There were also some tentative talks between the Dalai Lama and the Beijing government, but they broke down without evident progress. After political protests erupted in Lhasa in 1987 and 1989, provoking martial law, the government adopted a hard line against dissent of all kinds in the 1990s.
It was only at the end of the decade that this tough stance was coupled with promises of economic development -- part of China's "Great Western Investment Strategy" launched in 2000 to boost the economies of 12 big but poor provinces, including Tibet. The goals: to even out inequality and tap into natural resources to support industrial growth back east in the Han Chinese heartland.
In 2001, China began construction of what, for Tibet, is the centerpiece of the "Go West" program -- a $4 billion extension of a rail line to connect Lhasa and the rest of the landlocked Tibetan plateau to the booming eastern cities of Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai and their ports. Trains started running in 2006.
Beijing also poured money into Tibet's education and health services. Peace Corps-like programs encouraged young Chinese to donate their time to projects in the province.
"There's no doubt that the Chinese government believes the same economic equation works there as elsewhere: The way to people's hearts is through development," says Howard Balloch, a former Canadian ambassador to China and now president of his own investment boutique in Beijing.
Between 2000 and 2006, there were six rounds of talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and the Beijing government. The talks made little progress. The Dalai Lama and his government-in-exile, for example, insisted that the Tibet autonomous region be effectively enlarged to include Tibetan areas in nearby provinces as well, a nonstarter for the Chinese side.
After a meeting in the summer of 2006, negotiations between the Tibetan exiles and Beijing broke off. Tibetan exiles say they believe Beijing decided to wait for the 72-year-old Dalai Lama, who is hugely popular with Tibetans, to die in the hopes that his cause would die with him.
--Andrew Batson in Beijing contributed to this article.
Write to Shai Oster at shai.oster@wsj.com, Gordon Fairclough at gordon.fairclough@wsj.com, James T. Areddy at james.areddy@wsj.com and Jason Leow at jason.leow@wsj.com
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