China, Dalai Lama's envoys resume talks

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - China resumed fence-mending talks with envoys of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, on Tuesday in a move that could burnish its international image weeks before the Chinese capital hosts the Olympics.

It is their second closed-door meeting since rioting erupted in Tibet in March and heaped international pressure on China to deal with the Nobel laureate, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.

A senior aide to the Dalai Lama confirmed the talks began on Tuesday morning, but China shrouded the meeting in secrecy declining to confirm or deny details.

"As far as we are aware the talks started this morning. They will continue through the day and tomorrow," Tenzin Taklha said, adding that the envoys were returning on Thursday.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said he could not give any more details of the meeting between the Dalai Lama's envoys and Chinese officials.

Asked about French President Nicolas Sarkozy's statement that his decision on whether to attend the Beijing Olympics would be based on whether he sees progress in the Tibet talks, Liu said Tibet was a domestic issue.

"Tibet is our internal affair, and the Chinese government's relevant department's contacts with the Dalai Lama's representatives are an internal affair, and we oppose any foreign leader meeting the Dalai Lama in any setting and oppose linking the Olympic Games to the Tibet issue," Liu told reporters.

The current round of talks, the sixth since 2002 and delayed by three weeks in the wake of China's deadliest earthquake in three decades, was preceded by a glut of goodwill, arguably somewhat more from the Dalai Lama's side than China's.

During a trip to Britain in May, he said he was willing to attend the August 8-24 Beijing Olympics if talks between his envoys and China yielded results. He did not elaborate.

But a Chinese source with ties to the leadership told Reuters an Olympic invite for the Dalai Lama or a summit with President Hu Jintao was out of the question unless Hu can mollify conservatives in his ruling Communist Party.

The Dalai Lama says he wants autonomy for the Himalayan region. But China is unconvinced and brands him a separatist.

OLIVE BRANCH

He extended an olive branch to China praising the Chinese for their handling of the aftermath of the tremor that left a trail of death and destruction in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

The quake killed about 70,000 people and put China at the receiving end of international sympathy after a period of vilification over a post-riot crackdown in Tibet.

Anti-Chinese protesters had disrupted the international leg of the Olympic torch relay and Chinese studying or living abroad staged counter-protests after China blamed followers of the Dalai Lama for instigating the March violence -- a charge he denies.