Tough language on Tibet despite China talks offer

By Nick Mulvenney

XIJIN, China (Reuters) - Chinese media kept up its tough language on the Dalai Lama on Saturday, a day after a surprise offer of talks with his envoys, as analysts expressed caution about whether dialogue would ease tensions in Tibet.

China blames the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, for a wave of anti-government unrest throughout its Tibetan areas, and has vilified him as a separatist bent on independence for Tibet and disrupting the Beijing Olympics.

"It's too early to tell if the meeting will produce results or is just for PR purposes in advance of the Olympics," Mary Beth Markey, a vice-president at the International Campaign for Tibet, said in a statement.

In the report announcing the offer of talks, China's official Xinhua news agency softened its language, referring to the Dalai "side", rather than the Dalai "clique", and rather than demanding he "stop splittist activities" as a precondition, said he must take credible moves to do so.

Asked his opinion on a meeting or talks, the Dalai Lama was guarded.

"It depends what kind of talks. If (they are) serious talks, most welcome. Just mere seeing face to face, not much meaning," he told Reuters Television on arrival at Delhi airport on Saturday.

Despite the subtle changes in tone, China's state media on Saturday kept up their condemnation of the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Communist rule.

The People's Daily, the voice of the Communist Party, carried news of the dialogue offer alongside a separate story that said the Dalai Lama was unfit as a Buddhist leader.