China says no concessions on Tibet's sovereignty

Beijing/New Delhi, 1 Feb: China has told the envoys of the Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama that it would make "no concessions" on Tibet's sovereignty.

Top Chinese Communist Party officials concluded the ninth round of secret talks with special envoys in Beijing and issued a brief statement.

"During the meetings (Communist Party) officials ...reiterated that no concessions would be made on issues concerning China's national sovereignty," Xinhua news agency said.

The agency said that the Dalai Lama's representatives Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen had "expressed their opinion" on relevant issues without elaborating.

The official Chinese statement said the Communist Party officials had briefed the envoy of the Dalai Lama on what it called recent achievements made by the Tibet Autonomous Region over the past years.

The envoys arrived back in New Delhi and later left for Dharamshala to brief the Dalai Lama and other senior Tibetan leaders on the talks.

Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen flew to China a week ago and held meetings with Chinese Communist Party and Government officials which began in the central province of Hunan before moving to Beijing at the weekend.

Though there was no official word on whether the talks would be continued, Beijing had earlier said it would keep its doors open for future discussions despite "serious divergence" between the two sides.

China and Dalai Lama have been holding secret talks since 2002, with the Tibetan leader seeking a "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet. But Beijing says the Dalai Lama wants full independence and is insisting the spiritual leader must renounce "separatist activities" .

The high level dialogue between China and Dalai Lama comes a fortnight ahead of the Tibetan leaders ten day visit to United States on February 16, during which he is likely to meet President Barack Obama.
 

(PTI)