Thaw? China to meet with envoys of the Dalai Lama

BEIJING — In a sudden shift, China agreed Friday to meet with envoys of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader it accuses of instigating anti-government demonstrations in Tibet last month in an effort to scuttle the Beijing Summer Olympics.

A short dispatch from the official Xinhua news agency said the meeting would take place "in the coming days."

China has heaped invective on the Dalai Lama since riots left parts of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa in smoldering ruins March 14, vilifying him as a criminal. The surprising announcement of a new round of talks seemed aimed at defusing frictions with the West on the issue of Tibet before the Summer Games.

The Xinhua dispatch quoted an unnamed official as saying "the relevant department of the central government" would soon make contact with the Dalai Lama.

"It is hoped that through contact and consultation, the Dalai side will take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China, stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games so as to create conditions for talks," the agency quoted the official as saying.

The announcement marked the first sign of detente since the protests erupted in Tibet in mid-March, raising tensions between China and the West, and brought positive remarks from Western capitals and from Dharamsala, India, seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile.

"We welcome this," said Tenzin Taklha, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama.

China's announcement came as a series of high-level European officials concluded a visit to Beijing, and they, too, hailed the news.

"We see this as a very positive gesture by the Chinese authorities," said Jose Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, adding that Premier Wen Jiabao told him of the coming talks at a "private tete-a-tete" Thursday evening.

"The Chinese say they are ready to discuss everything except sovereignty. And so if the concern of the Dalai Lama is, as he has always stated, the respect for cultural identity, religious identity and autonomy inside China, I believe there is real room for dialogue," Barroso said.

Anti-Chinese protests erupted in mid-March in the autonomous region of Tibet and in neighboring provinces where Tibetans reside. China says 22 people died in the protests in Lhasa, while Tibetan exile groups say many more were killed in the violence that swept across much of western China.