China tells Dalai to curb ‘terror’ activities of Tibetans

However, it offered to hold the next round of contact with the 72-year-old Tibetan leader by the end of this year if he made “positive moves”, after his envoys held the second round of fence-mending talks with Beijing amidst international pressure to ease tensions ahead of August Olympics.

During the talks which began on Tuesday, the Chinese officials told the Dalai’s envoys that the Buddhist leader must not support any activity to disturb the Beijing Olympics.

The Chinese demands were conveyed by Du Qinglin, head of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee during his meeting with the Dalai Lama’s representatives Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen.

China also wanted the Tibetan spiritual leader “not to support plots to fan violent criminal activities and not to support and concretely curb the violent terrorist activities of the ‘Tibetan Youth Congress’….,” Du, also Vice-Chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, said, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.

“If the Dalai Lama made positive moves, the next round of contact would be held by the end of this year,” the agency said quoting department officials.

Du told the self-exiled leader’s envoys that the central government’s policy towards the Dalai Lama “is consistent and explicit and the door of dialogue is always open”, a statement issued by the department said.

Meanwhile, Tibet’s foreign minister in exile Kesang Yangkyi Takla said that the latest round of talks with China so far did not look encouraging.

“Judging from some of the statements made by the Chinese leadership, particularly the office for the autonomous region of Tibet, what they have to say about the Tibetan situation is not very encouraging,” she told reporters in Tokyo.

During the latest round of two-day talks, second since the most violent anti-government protest erupted in Lhasa in March, Chinese officials also demanded that the Dalai should “openly and explicitly” promise and prove it in his actions not to support “any argument and activity to seek ‘Tibet independence’ and split the region from the country.

The top Communist official participating in the talks said the Dalai Lama should also not support activities to disturb the upcoming Olympics.

“In Tibet, the adherence to the CPC leadership, the socialist system and the regional autonomy of ethnic minorities will not be altered,” Du said, while affirming that the central government would apply its policies in Tibet, support its economic and social development and improve living standards of people in the region “as it did before.”

Zhu Weiqun and Sitar, two deputy heads of the department, also met the Dalai Lama’s representatives and exchanged ideas on detailed issues, Xinhua said.

The Tibetan leader’s representatives also “expressed their ideas on several relevant issues” and said they would report the results to the Dalai Lama, it said. During their stay in Beijing, the two toured the Olympic stadiums and talked with some Tibetologists.