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Dalai Lama Wants to Visit China
If Relations Improve
NEW DELHI, June 13 (AFP) - Tibet's exiled spiritual
leader the Dalai Lama may visit China if relations
between Tibet and the Beijing government improve, his
special envoy who recently visited the country said
Friday.
"It was made clear by his holiness, the Dalai Lama, on
several occasions his intention to visit Wutai Shan in
Shanxi Province," Lodi Gyari said.
"If Sino-Tibetan relations improve, there will be a
time for his holiness to visit these holy places," he
said in an interview broadcast on Radio Free Asia, an
American-funded radio station.
Gyari, who headed a four-member delegation which
visited China between May 25 and June 8, said in a
separate statement that they were "greatly encouraged"
by their meetings with China's new leaders.
"Both sides agreed that our past relationship had many
twists and turns and that many areas of disagreement
still exist," Gyari said in the statement posted on
the website of the Tibetan-government-in-exile in the
northern Indian town of Dharamsala.
"The need was felt for more efforts to overcome the
existing problems and bring about mutual understanding
and trust. We feel greatly encouraged by our first
encounter and exchange of views with our new Chinese
counterparts."
Gyari said they had suggested both sides "take further
steps".
He added that the Dalai Lama, too, was pleased by the
positive outcome of the visit and urged vigorous
efforts to further advance the process. "Our mission
is to lead this process to an earnest negotiation to
find a mutually acceptable solution for the Tibetan
people."
The Dalai Lama had sent Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen as
special envoys, along with two senior assistants, to
Beijing.
Gyari said the second visit by the
Tibetan-government-in-exile representatives to China
was aimed at broader understanding of the situation in
the country through meetings with Chinese officials.
Observers of Tibetan politics said that one of the
objectives of the delegation's tour was to pave the
way for a possible visit by the Dalai Lama.
They had had the opportunity to meet Chinese Buddhist
leaders and visit Buddhist holy sites.
The delegation met Tibetan officials in Yunnan, where
they also spoke to representatives of ethnic
minorities from the Yi, Naxi (Jang), and Bai
nationalities who have close links with the Tibetan
people.
Gyari said the visit gave them an opportunity to tour
the provinces of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Yunnan. "We
have been greatly impressed by the economic and social
changes in the areas that we visited," he added.
They described a visit to Gyalthang in the Dechen
Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Yunnan Province as a
"high moment" of their tour and praised the efforts to
protect the beautiful environment.
"However, we emphasized to the officials the
importance of maintaining Tibetan religious, cultural
and linguistic identity along with the material
development," Gyari said.
The envoys first visited Beijing last year to reopen
links between China and the Dalai Lama that were
severed in 1993.
The Dalai Lama and his followers fled Tibet in 1959
after a failed uprising against Chinese rule and set
up base in Dharamsala in the Indian state of Himachal
Pradesh.
China, which has occupied Tibet since 1951, has been
accused of trying to wipe out Tibet's Buddhist-based
culture through political and religious repression and
a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
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