(AP) -
The Dalai Lama welcomed China's offer to meet his envoy and said Saturday the
two sides needed to talk seriously about how to resolve the problems that
triggered riots in the Tibetan capital last month.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said he has yet to receive detailed
information about the offer of dialogue, but that talks would be good.
"We have to explore the causes of the problems and seek a solution through
talks," the Tibetan spiritual leader told reporters at his headquarters in
the northern Indian town of Dharmsala, a day after Beijing said it would meet
his envoy.
"We need to have serious talks about how to reduce the Tibetan resentment
within Tibet," he said. "But just merely meeting some of my men in
order to show the world that they are having dialogue, then it is
meaningless."
China's offer to meet the Dalai Lama's envoy gave few details, saying only
that the "relevant department of the central government will have contact
and consultation with Dalai's private representative in the coming days."
Days of protests in Lhasa against Chinese rule turned violent on March 14,
galvanizing critics of Beijing's communist regime and threatening to overshadow
the Beijing summer Olympics - an object of massive national pride for China.
China says 22 people died in the violence, while overseas Tibet supporters say many times that number were killed in the protests and subsequent crackdown
across Tibetan regions of western China.
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule in
1959, returned Saturday to Dharmsala after a two-week visit to the United States. He has said he wants meaningful autonomy for the Himalayan region - not
independence.