World Tibet Network News Saturday, June 27, 1998

by Lorien Holland

BEIJING, June 27 (AFP) - President Jiang Zemin revealed Saturday the Chinese government has opened "several channels of communication" with the exiled Dalai Lama after US President Bill Clinton urged Beijing to launch talks over Tibet's fate. "As long as the Dalai Lama makes a public commitment that Tibet is an inalienable part of China and Taiwan is a province of China, then the door to dialogue and negotiation is open," Jiang said after a two-hour summit with Clinton. "Actually, we are having several channels of communication with the Dalai Lama so I hope the Dalai Lama will make a positive response in this regard, "he said in a live broadcast after Clinton urged talks to resolve the future of the troubled region. The Dalai Lama told the French newspaper Le Monde last week that since 1993 he had no official contacts with Beijing but he kept contacts open with China through "private unofficial channels.

"He also told the foreign affairs committee of the French parliament he has "reason to be optimistic" of the future of the region. But a spokesman for the Dalai Lama on Saturday denied the Chinese government was in communication with the exiled Tibetan leader. Speaking in reaction to Jiang's statement, the spokesman said his offer of dialogue was "unacceptable", adding there was "not anything new and it is the same wine in a new bottle." "There is no channel of communication open at this time. The only real communication was a long time back, around 1979 and 1980," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

China, which claims its sovereignty over Tibet dates back to the 13th century, "liberated" the region in 1951. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule and Beijing has so far refused to meet with him charging he is working for the independence of Tibet, a position which the Dalai Lama has denied. Confrontation between the Dalai Lama and the Beijing government rose to a peak in 1995 when the spiritual leader unilaterally named the reincarnationof the Panchen Lama, the second highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism. In response, Beijing ordered all pictures of the Dalai Lama to be removed from monasteries and temples and launched a bitter campaign to discredit him.

Jiang's revelation that channels of communication with the Dalai Lama were open came after Clinton publically urged China to start dialogue with the Dalai Lama. "I urge President Jiang to assume a dialogue with the Dalai Lama in return for the recognition that Tibet is a part of China and in recognition of the unique cultural and religious heritage of that region," Clinton said. "I have spent time with the Dalai Lama and I believe him to be an honest man, and I believe if President Jiang had a conversation with the Dalai Lama then they would like each other very much," Clinton said. Although Jiang's offer for talks with the Dalai Lama did not differ substantially from a series of similar past offers, diplomats in the capital said Jiang had opened a possible route forward. "That's not exactly new but if the Dalai Lama came back tomorrow and said, yes, I would like to do this, the Chinese are boxed into a position where they'd have to do it," a western diplomat said.

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