Beijing to stick to Tibet approach

A senior official denied Thursday that China would adopt a new approach to the Tibet issue, in response to the Dalai Lama's reported claim that he had seen "encouraging signs" in China's attitude toward Tibet.

The Dalai Lama said Wednesday that some Chinese officials seemed to agree that a new approach needed to be adopted to deal with the issue of Tibet, and the "Tibet government-in-exile" is "ready for full cooperation with them" if they are "thinking more realistically," Reuters reported.

He added that he had received a stream of visitors from China, and some of them claimed they had connections with senior officials of the Communist Party of China, according to Reuters.

Xu Zhitao, an official with The United Front Work Department of the CPC Central Committee, denied any such recent visits, adding that there would not be any negotiations at least until the end of the year.

"China will continue to be flexible with the Dalai Lama, but it seems that no result will come out if he does not change his attitude toward some fundamental issues," said Xu.

The central government has insisted that the Dalai Lama or his "Tibet government-in-exile" cannot represent the Tibetan people, and there can only be discussions on how the Dalai Lama should "stop his separatist speeches and win the trust of the central government as well as the forgiveness of the Chinese people."

According to Xu, the Dalai Lama seeks to control everything in the Tibet Autonomous Region except foreign affairs and national defense, just as it was in Tibet before 1959.

"The so-called autonomy of Tibet the Dalai Lama claims to be seeking is actually the independence of Tibet, which is definitely forbidden," Xu said.

Since 2002, the Chinese government has negotiated with representatives of the Dalai Lama on 10 occasions, including the latest in 2010, but no breakthroughs were reached because of "sharply divided" views, Xinhua reported.

Xiong Kunxin, a professor of ethnic studies at the Minzu University of China, said the Dalai Lama seemed to have softened his speeches in a bid to draw some attention to the Tibet issue, while China has recently been occupied with territorial issues in the East China Sea and the South China Sea.