New Delhi - Little headway was made in the latest round of talks between Chinese officials and representatives of the Dalai Lama, envoys of the Tibetan spiritual leader said Saturday on returning to their headquarters in the north Indian town of Dharamsala. In a statement issued after briefing the Dalai Lama and senior Tibetan leaders, special envoy Lodi Gyari said that while there had been no tangible progress it had been agreed to hold the next round of discussions in October.
Gyari, who was accompanied to Beijing by envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen, said the recent events in Tibet had demonstrated the Tibetan people's "deep-rooted discontentment" and highlighted the need for efforts to address the issue with courage and vision.
But in the course of their discussions with Chinese officials they found there was an "absence of serious and sincere commitment" on the part of China, Gyari said.
The Tibet issue has come into the limelight in the wake of violent protests in the territory and demonstrations by Tibetan refugees worldwide, which have come as an embarrassment to China on the eve of the Olympic Games in Beijing next month.
The Dalai Lama was seeking a solution to the Tibet issue within the People's Republic of China and the situation was a matter of increasing international concern, Gyari said.
"We had hoped the Chinese leadership would reciprocate our efforts by taking tangible steps during this round," Gyari said. "On the contrary, due to excessive concern about legitimacy, the Chinese side even failed to agree to our proposal of issuing a joint statement with the aim of committing both parties to the dialogue process."
He said the envoys had told the Chinese officials that the present dialogue process would serve no purpose in its current form form.
"The Chinese side expressed the view that the dialogue process has been productive and that we need to keep in mind that a half-a- century-old issue of great complexity cannot be resolved in a matter of years," he said.
"We agreed with our counterparts to have the next round of discussion in October and discussed some points that could serve as the basis of the agenda."
The envoy said the Chinese side urged the Dalai Lama not to support violence, terrorism or sabotaging of the Olympic Games. "We stated in the strongest possible terms that no one needs to urge us on this as His Holiness and the Tibetan struggle are universally acknowledged and appreciated for consistently rejecting and opposing such acts."
The envoy said their team had met with Du Qinglin, minister of the Central United Fronts Work Department, and held discussions with Executive Vice Minister Zhu Weiqun and Vice Minister Sithar. They also visited a centre for Tibetan studies.
