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[ Manash Pratim Bhuyan ]<\/strong><\/p>\n DHARAMSHALA, 25 Apr:<\/strong> The Tibetan government-in-exile and China are holding back-channel talks, signalling signs of willingness by both sides to reengage over a decade after the formal dialogue process hit a dead end in view of anti-China protests in Tibet and Beijing’s hardline approach towards the Buddhist region.<\/p>\n The Sikyong or political head of Tibet’s government-in-exile, Penpa Tsering, confirmed the holding of informal talks and said that his interlocutor has been dealing with “people in Beijing” but there is no immediate expectation of a forward movement.<\/p>\n “We have had back-channel (engagement) since last year. But we have no immediate expectations from it. It has to be a long-term (one),” Tsering told a small group of journalists, informing that the talks are “very informal.”<\/p>\n “I have my interlocutor who deals with people in Beijing. Then there are other elements also trying to reach out to us,” the head of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) said.<\/p>\n From 2002 to 2010, Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama’s representatives and the Chinese government held nine rounds of dialogue that did not produce a concrete outcome. No formal talks have been held since then.<\/p>\n Another senior Tibetan leader indicated that the back-channel talks are aimed at reviving the overall dialogue process as it is the only way out to resolve the Tibetan issue.<\/p>\n The CTA leader, referring to the frosty ties between New Delhi and Beijing following the eastern Ladakh row in 2020, said that<\/p>\n the Chinese belligerence along the Indian border highlights the Tibetan issue in India.<\/p>\n “With the Chinese belligerence on the border, the Tibetan issue also naturally gets highlighted in India,” he said.<\/p>\n At the same time, Tsering pitched for greater support from India for the Tibetan cause.<\/p>\n “Now you can see that India’s foreign policy is becoming more vibrant. India’s influence around the world is also growing. In that sense, we would definitely want India to be a little more vocal towards the Tibetan cause,” he said.<\/p>\n After a failed anti-Chinese uprising in 1959, the 14th Dalai Lama fled Tibet and came to India, where he set up the government-in-exile. The Chinese government officials and the Dalai Lama or his representatives have not met in formal negotiations since 2010.<\/p>\n Beijing has been maintaining that it freed “serfs and slaves” from a brutal theocracy in Tibet and is bringing the region on the path of prosperity and modernisation.<\/p>\n China has in the past accused the Dalai Lama of indulging in “separatist” activities and trying to split Tibet and considers him a divisive figure.<\/p>\n However, the Tibetan spiritual leader has insisted that he is not seeking independence but “genuine autonomy for all Tibetans living in the three traditional provinces of Tibet” under the “middle-way approach.”<\/p>\n Relations between the two sides strained further due to protests against China in Tibetan areas in 2008.<\/p>\n The Sikyong also mentioned that India doesn’t make statements on Tibet during the periodic review of human rights in China by the United Nations Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n “Normally, other countries look at the leadership of India because India is one country that knows Tibet historically. In that sense we would also like them to be a little more vocal,” he said.<\/p>\n In its talks with China between 2002 and 2010, the Tibetan side pitched for genuine autonomy for the Tibetan people in line with the Dalai Lama’s middle-way policy.<\/p>\n The Dalai Lama has been favouring a resolution of the Tibetan issue through dialogue.<\/p>\n “I am always open to talks with China and have made it clear years ago that we are not seeking complete independence and would remain a part of the People’s Republic of China,” the Dalai Lama said last year.<\/p>\n In his remarks, Tsering suggested that less complicated relations between India and China could help in moving positively toward the resolution of the Tibetan issue.<\/p>\n In this context, he also highlighted the deep-rooted connection between Indian and Tibetan culture and heritage.<\/p>\n “His Holiness the Dalai Lama keeps saying that ‘I am a son of Indian soil’ and that ‘I’m a messenger of Indian wisdom’. So we are close to Indian culture but not to China’s,” he said. (PTI)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [ Manash Pratim Bhuyan ] DHARAMSHALA, 25 Apr: The Tibetan government-in-exile and China are holding back-channel talks, signalling signs of willingness by both sides to reengage over a decade after the formal dialogue process hit a dead end in view of anti-China protests in Tibet and Beijing’s hardline approach towards the Buddhist region. The Sikyong […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-239518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-state-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239518\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}