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Call for talks with Dalai Lama
22/03/2008 16:36 - (SA)
Beijing - A group of 29 Chinese
dissidents urged Beijing on Saturday to open direct dialogue with
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in the wake of
rioting in the region.
Monk-led anti-Chinese protests erupted in Tibet's capital,
Lhasa, on March 10 and spilled over into Chinese provinces
populated by Tibetans. Some turned violent with Chinese leaders
blaming the Dalai Lama for engineering the rioting.
"We appeal to the country's leaders to directly engage in
dialogue with the Dalai Lama. "We hope to eliminate
misunderstanding between Han and Tibetans," the group said in an
open letter e-mailed to reporters, referring to the majority Han
Chinese.
The pro-democracy activists - led by writer Wang Lixiong and
dissident Liu Xiaobo - urged the government to invite UN
investigators to Tibet to change the international community's
distrust of China. Journalists
They also suggested allowing credible domestic and foreign
journalists to independently report from the predominantly
Buddhist region and said those arrested should be given an open
and fair trial.
The dissidents said they hoped the government would produce
evidence to substantiate accusations that the Dalai Lama
premeditated the unrest. The Dalai Lama has denied the charge.
The government should tone down its Cultural Revolution-era
invective against the Dalai Lama which was only fanning the
flames of "ethnic hatred" and undermining the country's image.
"Serious mistakes exist in (government) work on Tibet," the
letter said, pressing the government to fundamentally change its
"failed" policies towards ethnic groups.
But their demands are likely to fall on deaf ears in the
government which has long refused to hold talks with the Dalai
Lama who has lived in exile in India for almost half a century.
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