Tibetan Envoy Calls for Talks

Emphasizing the vital role the Tibetan people play in China’s “national family,” Lodi G. Gyari, special envoy of the Dalai Lama, called on the Chinese government to participate in bilateral talks with a sincere desire to reach a solution, in an appearance at the Kennedy School yesterday.

Tibetan and Chinese officials are preparing to enter the eighth round of negotiations on the status of Tibetan political authority at the end of this month. But, with restrained responsiveness from Communist Party representatives, Gyari expressed concern over whether the ongoing discussions would lead to an equitable solution.

“In the absence of serious and sincere commitment on [the Chinese] part, the continuation of the present dialogue process would serve no purpose,” he said.

Gyari has served as the head negotiator for the Tibetan delegation since talks between the Central Tibetan Authority, headed by the Dalai Lama, and the People’s Republic of China began in 2002. His continued diplomatic efforts have had some success, but he said Chinese insistence on the Dalai Lama as a major instigator of resistance has slowed down the process.

In the wake of several pro-Tibet protests and demonstrations last spring, Chinese authorities charged the Tibetan spiritual leader with condoning, even encouraging, violence.

As Gyari noted, Chinese officials were later forced to recognize the protests as “a strong expression of discontentment” on the part of the Tibetan people, not the result of an inflammatory religious influence.

But more than a misplacement of blame, Gyari worried that severe prolongation in discussions would force the aging Lama to live his remaining days in exile in India. If this were to happen, he said, “it would take generations for the Tibetan people to forgive the Chinese policies.”

But looking ahead to this month’s meeting in Beijing, Gyari was cautiously hopeful. He projected that, for lack of any fundamental differences between the Tibetans and the Chinese, cooperation would eventually lead to a solution in which Tibet self-governance and a stable Chinese society go hand-in-hand.

Gyari carefully distinguished self-governance from independence, a goal that the Dalai Lama’s ‘Middle-Way’ policy has never supported.

Attendees included several members of the local Tibetan communities, some of whom questioned how executive power will be divided between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama once an accord is reached.

“Obviously we see Beijing as the central government,” Gyari assured, explaining that as the result of an agreement the government-in-exile would dissolve. But by allowing the Dalai Lama to continue to speak as the moral authority for the Tibetan people, he added, China can grow as “a power that is respected, and not just feared.”