China offers Dalai Lama talks

China’s Premier Wen Jiabao today said Beijing is willing to hold future talks with the Dalai Lama as long as Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader gives up his “separatist stance”.

He repeated that the door for negotiations is “always open,” provided the Tibetan leader remains sincere in his efforts to find a resolution.

“For such contacts and consultations to make progress, what’s important is for the Dalai Lama to have sincerity. Otherwise, no substantive results can be made,” he told reporters during a televised press conference held after the closing of the annual legislative session.

Last year, representatives for both sides held three different rounds of talks but little progress was made.

China has continually blamed the Tibetan leader for advancing an agenda for independence, and for fomenting last year’s anti-government protests in the regional capital of Lhasa.

China claims Tibet as part of its territory, but many Tibetans have chafed under China’s rule, which they say deprives them of religious freedom and autonomy.

The Dalai Lama has stated he advocates a “Middle Way,” which calls for significant Tibetan autonomy under Chinese rule, but not independence.

Mr Wen also defended China’s rule over the area, saying Tibet’s economic development in recent years proves China’s policies in the restive Himalayan region are correct.

“Tibet’s peace and stability and Tibet’s continuous progress have proven the policies we have adopted are right,” he said. “Over the past few years, the state has also made efforts to increase fiscal input in Tibet to accelerate economic development in the region and improve the livelihood of farmers and herdsmen in Tibet.”

But tensions in the area have been heightened in recent weeks as the government deployed thousands of police and paramilitary forces into Tibet and other ethnically Tibetan areas in western China – about a quarter of its territory - to head off any repeat of last year’s wide-scale demonstrations.

China has been on high alert with two key anniversaries this week – the 50th anniversary of a failed Tibetan uprising that sent the Dalai Lama into exile and the one-year anniversary of violent anti-Chinese riots in Lhasa.