Dalai Lama's Envoys To Begin China Visit on May 3

The Office of His Holiness the Dalai Lama (OHHDL) announced in a May 2, 2008, press release that the Dalai Lama's Special Envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen would arrive in China on May 3 for "informal talks with representatives of the Chinese leadership." The visit comes on the heels of a cascade of Tibetan protests, some violent, that began in Lhasa on March 10 and spread through at least 52 county-level areas of which approximately two-thirds are in officially designated Tibetan autonomous areas of Qinghai, Gansu, and Sichuan provinces. In the wake of the protests, Chinese officials have implemented aggressive campaigns of "patriotic education" targeting monasteries, nunneries, schools, and communities, according to multiple reports. (See, e.g., Associated Press (reprinted in International Herald Tribune, 21 April 08); China Digital Times, 27 April 08; International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), 29 April 08; New York Times, 31 March 08; Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy, 14 April 08; and Washington Post, 6 April 08.)

The envoys' arrival will follow an April 25 Xinhua announcement (reprinted in People's Daily) that, "In view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai's private representative in the coming days." Previously, China's state-run media have not disclosed plans for such visits until after the envoys arrive in China.

On April 23, two days before the Xinhua announcement, Lodi Gyari said in prepared testimony before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (testimony also available on the International Campaign for Tibet Web site): "Throughout the period of crisis, I have been using existing channels of communication with Chinese officials to convey our urgent concerns. What I have been hearing back is nothing but the usual rhetoric." Referring specifically to the prospects for dialogue, his testimony stated, "We cannot pretend that if our next round of discussions were held now, it would be business as usual given the scale of the crackdown and the fact that protests are continuing almost daily. The present emergency situation must be resolved before we can really talk about the future." According to the OHHDL press release, the envoys' objectives would be to "take up the urgent issue of the current crisis in the Tibetan areas," and to "raise the issue of moving forward on the process for a mutually satisfactory solution to the Tibetan issue."

During the previous six rounds of dialogue, the envoys met with senior officials of the Communist Party United Front Work Department (UFWD), including Wang Zhaoguo and Liu Yandong at times when each served as Head of the UFWD, Deputy Head Zhu Weiqun, and UFWD Seventh Bureau Director Sithar (or Sita), according to the Special Envoy's statements issued after each round of dialogue (via ICT Web site): September 2002, May-June 2003, September 2004, June-July 2005, February 2006, and June-July 2007. In March 2008, the National People's Congress elected one of the envoys' former UFWD interlocutors, Liu Yandong, to the position of State Councilor, according to a March 18 China Daily report. The Party's Central Committee elected Liu in October 2007 to membership in the powerful Political Bureau ("Politburo"), making her the Party's highest-ranking female according to an October 22, 2007, Xinhua report.

It remains to be seen whether the envoys will meet with officials who are responsible for the principal issues underlying the recent Tibetan protests, such as regional ethnic autonomy and state control of Tibetan Buddhism, for substantive discussions that could help to ease tensions across the Tibetan areas of China. Some speculate that the Chinese government invited the envoys to China as a pre-Olympics public maneuver. (See, e.g., Reuters, 26 April 08.)

In response to recent events, both the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama have put forward new requirements. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokesperson Jiang Yu said on April 29 at a scheduled press interview that in order to "create conditions for the next consultation," the Dalai Lama should among other things “stop his violent and criminal activities with concrete actions,” and “stop his activities to interrupt and sabotage the Beijing Olympic Games,” (Xinhua, translated in OSC, 29 April 08). (See CECC Analysis, March 18, p. 7, 13-14; and CECC Testimony Before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, April 23, for analysis of Chinese government accusations against the Dalai Lama.) The Dalai Lama, in an April 6 statement said the Chinese leadership should “immediately stop their suppression in all parts of Tibet,” and the leadership should “withdraw its armed police and troops.”

For more information, see "Status of Discussion Between China and the Dalai Lama" in Section IV, Tibet: Special Focus for 2007, in the CECC 2007 Annual Report. Tibet: Special Focus for 2007 is also available as a separate reprint.