False alarm on China-Tibet talks

Word from the recent negotiations in Beijing is that China's offers to talk with the Dalai Lama appear to have been disingenuous. One of the envoys told the Reuters international news service Saturday that the Chinese negotiators showed "an absence of serious and sincere commitment" to resolving the long-simmering dispute between China and Tibet. Envoy Lodi Gyari said the Chinese negotiators wanted only to disparage the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet when China took over in 1959 and has been in exile in India ever since, and did not discuss the welfare of Tibet or its people. "We were compelled to candidly convey to our counterparts that in the absence of serious and sincere commitment on their part, the continuation of the present dialogue process would serve no purpose," Gyari said. China agreed to convene the talks, the second meeting with the Dalai Lama's representatives since Chinese troops cracked down on protests in Tibet earlier this year, in response to international pressure concerning the 2008 Olympics, scheduled to begin next month in Beijing. Some Western leaders had threatened to boycott the opening ceremonies, but most have since said they will attend, including President Bush.