China on Friday said it will talk only with the representatives of the Dalai Lama and not the officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in India but ruled out dialogue on the highest Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader's long-pending demand for autonomy for his remote Himalayan homeland.
Also, Beijing for the first time in recent years, did not slam the Dalai Lama as a separatist and instead said it is ready to discuss his “personal future,” hinting that it is open for the 88-year-old monk to return to his homeland, Tibet, ending 65 of years of his exile in India.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin was reacting to reports of the back-channel talks between the Tibetan government-in-exile and the Chinese government when he said China regards the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala as a “separatist” bloc.
“The so-called ‘Tibetan government-in-exile’ is an entirely organised separatist political group with a political platform and an agenda for ‘Tibetan independence.’ It is an illegal organisation that violates China’s Constitution and laws. No country in the world recognises it,” Wang said.
China calls Tibet as Xizang.
On Thursday, Sikyong or the political head of Tibet's government-in-exile, Penpa Tsering, told a visiting group of journalists in Dharamshala, India, “We have had back-channel (engagement) since last year. But we have no immediate expectations from it. It has to be a long-term (one).”
Insisting that the talks are “very informal,” the head of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said, “I have my interlocutor who deals with people in Beijing. Then, there are other elements also trying to reach out to us.”
Elaborating on China’s stand, Wang said the Chinese government has two basic principles when it comes to contact and talks.
“First, we would only have contact and talks with the personal representative of the 14th Dalai Lama, not the so-called ‘Tibetan government-in-exile’ or the ‘Central Tibetan Administration.’ The Chinese government will not be dealing with it,” he said.
“Second, any contact or talks will only be about the personal future of the 14th Dalai Lama himself, or to the utmost extent, a handful of people close to him, not the so-called ‘high degree of autonomy for Tibet,’ Wang added.
“We hope the 14th Dalai Lama will have a right understanding of the central government’s policy, seriously reflect on and thoroughly correct its political propositions and actions, give up any activity aimed to disrupt the social order in Xizang, and return to the right path. Only then can contact and talks be considered next,” he said.
The Dalai Lama has, time and again, denied aspiration for independence, and instead called for autonomy for Tibet, which has subsequently been bifurcated into various prefectures by the Chinese government after taking it over in 1951.
The 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 and came to India where he set up the government-in-exile at Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh.
From 2002 to 2010, the Dalai Lama's representatives and the Chinese government held nine rounds of dialogue that did not produce any concrete outcome.
The Tibetan side pitched for genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people in line with the Dalai Lama's ‘Middle-Way Policy.' No formal talks have been held since after 2010.
In Dharamshala, another senior Tibetan leader on Thursday indicated that the back-channel talks are aimed at reviving the overall dialogue process as it is the only way out to resolve the Tibetan issue.
