NEW DELHI, April 29: The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) has renewed its call for finding a solution to the decades-long Tibet conflict with China through talks, days after Beijing asserted that it will talk only with the representatives of the Dalai Lama and not with the government-in-exile.
Last week, the Sikyong or political head of Tibet’s government-in-exile (CTA), Penpa Tsering, said his administration has opened back-channel talks with Beijing to explore ways to find a resolution to the Tibet issue.
At the same time, Tsering said there is no immediate expectation of a forward movement from the informal talks.
The remarks were seen as signs of willingness by both sides to re-engage over a decade after the formal dialogue process hit a dead end in view of anti-China protests in Tibet and Beijing’s hardline approach towards the Buddhist region.
Following Tsering’s remarks, China on Friday said it would talk only with the representatives of the Dalai Lama and not the officials of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in India.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also ruled out dialogue on the Dalai Lama’s long-pending demand for autonomy for Tibet.
After China’s reaction, CTA spokesperson Tenzin Lekshay said the Middle Way Policy of the Central Tibetan Administration is to seek genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within the framework of the Chinese Constitution and that a solution to the long-pending matter will be beneficial to both sides.
“The Middle Way Policy (MWP) of Central Tibetan Administration is to seek genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people within the framework of the Chinese constitution & Regional National Autonomy Law of China. Resolving Sino-Tibet conflict through MWP is mutually beneficial,” he said on ‘X’.
Tibet’s government-in-exile is based in Dharamshala, Himachal Pradesh, and represents over one lakh Tibetans living in around 30 countries.
From 2002 to 2010, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s representatives and the Chinese government held nine rounds of dialogue that did not produce any concrete outcomes. No formal talks have been held since then.
In its talks with China between 2002 and 2010, the Tibetan side pitched genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people in line with the Dalai Lama’s middle-way policy.
The Dalai Lama has been favouring resolution of the Tibetan issue through dialogue.
After a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet and came to India where he set up the government-in-exile. The Chinese government officials and the Dalai Lama or his representatives have not met in formal negotiations since 2010.
Beijing has been maintaining that it freed “serfs and slaves” from a brutal theocracy in Tibet and brought the region on the path of prosperity and modernisation.
China has in the past accused the Dalai Lama of indulging in “separatist” activities and trying to split Tibet and considers him as a divisive figure.
However, the Tibetan spiritual leader has insisted that he is not seeking independence but “genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet” under the “Middle-Way approach”.
Relations between the two sides strained further due to protests against China in Tibetan areas in 2008. (PTI)
