Page last updated at 03:43 GMT, Tuesday, 26 January 2010
The Dalai Lama may represent China's best chance of compromise
Envoys of Tibet's Dalai Lama in new China talks
By Shirong Chen
BBC China Editor
Talks are to resume between envoys of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and the Chinese government after a break of more than a year.
The relationship has been tense since the last round of discussions about Tibetan demands for more autonomy.
One of the Dalai Lama's representative in Europe, Mr Thubten Samdup, told the BBC that Beijing might have done some rethinking about the Tibetan position.
The Dalai Lama said last year that his people had suffered "hell on earth".
It is more than 14 months since the two sides sat down for talks to solve the Tibetan issue.
Best chance
In the last round of discussions, Beijing completely rejected the Tibetan demand for more autonomy, accusing the Tibetan spiritual leader of being bent on splitting Tibet from China.
We have some hope in the past three, four years there has been some more awareness within the Chinese citizens that perhaps the Dalai Lama is the best chance that Beijing has.
Thubten Samdup, Tibetan Representative for Northern Europe
Now two special envoys of the Dalai Lama, Lodi G. Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen, together with three senior aides from the Tibetan Task Force on Negotiations, are in Beijing to try and move closer to a solution.
"We feel that the only way we could really solve this between the Tibetans and the Chinese is through open and sincere dialogue," said Thubten Samdup is the Tibetan Representative for Northern Europe.
"We have some hope in the past three, four years there has been some more awareness within the Chinese citizens that perhaps the Dalai Lama is the best chance that Beijing has.
"While he's alive, this is the time to talk and resolve the situation, because post-Dalai Lama is a big question mark," said Mr Samdup.
The resumption of talks follows a rare high level conference on Tibet last week attended by all the nine standing members of the politburo in Beijing and officials from the Tibetan communities.
Beijing takes the Tibetan problem as a matter of national security.
It is increasing economic development in the region to raise the living standards of Tibetans close to the national average by 2020.
But in the battle for the hearts and minds of the Tibetans, Chinese leaders seem to have realised they must also engage with the Dalai Lama.
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