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An Olympic torch-bearer in Nagano, Japan, surrounded by security personnel keeping a lookout for protesters during yesterday's relay. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
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Dharamsala - The Dalai Lama said yesterday his envoy and China needed to talk seriously about how to resolve the problems that triggered riots in Tibet last month.
The spiritual leader said he had yet to receive detailed information about Beijing's offer of dialogue, but that talks would be good.
'We have to explore the causes of the problems and seek a solution through talks,' he said on his return to his northern Indian base of Dharamsala after a trip to the US.
'We need to have serious talks about how to reduce the Tibetan resentment within Tibet,' he said.
'But (if Chinese officials are) just merely meeting some of my men in order to show the world that they are having dialogue, then it is meaningless.'
Observers blame the failure of previous talks on the fact that the Chinese negotiators were powerless, low-level officials. The last round was held in 2006.
Beijing's surprise offer on Friday immediately drew praise from the United States and around the world amid hope that it could lead to a solution to the recent Tibetan unrest.
But Tibet experts said the offer looked like a desperate bid to defuse mounting international pressure over China's controversial crackdown on unrest in Tibet with less than four months before the Beijing Olympics.
China has poured security personnel into Tibet and ethnic Tibetan parts of western China since protests in Lhasa against Chinese rule turned violent on March 14.
Beijing says that 22 people died in the violence, while overseas Tibet supporters say many times that number were killed in the protests and subsequent crackdown across Tibetan regions of western China.
The Chinese state media yesterday kept up its attacks on the Dalai Lama, accusing him of being behind last month's unrest - charges that he has denied repeatedly.
Beijing has consistently denounced the Dalai Lama as a 'splittist' bent on breaking Tibet away from China.
The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, has said that he wants meaningful autonomy - not independence - for the Himalayan region.
The Tibetan government-in-exile said in a statement that the attacks on the Dalai Lama must stop.
Spokesman Thubten Samphel said that the continuation of the vilification was 'unnecessarily provo-
cative', adding: 'Instead of defusing the situation, it is making it more tense.'
Yesterday, a convoy of a dozen military vehicles was seen driving towards Tibet's second city of Shigatse, though there was no sign of unrest in the area.
Some experts say that China's offer to open dialogue indicates a realisation by some in the government that its policy of pushing economic growth in Tibet has failed to win over Tibetans.
'Senior Chinese leaders realise they face a real problem in Tibet,' said Professor Tsering Shakya, a Tibet historian at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
The Dalai Lama is due to visit Germany from May 16 to May 20, at a time when German Chancellor Angela Merkel will be out of the country on official business.
She said in an interview to be published today that she welcomed China's offer of talks and hoped it would ensure a 'peaceful' and 'successful' Beijing Olympics.
AP, AFP, Reuters
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