New Delhi - Envoys of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, were travelling to Beijing on Thursday for a new round of talks with Chinese officials, a senior Tibetan official said. "The envoys Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen took a flight for Beijing early Thursday morning. They will be there (Beijing) for about a week," said Thubten Samphel, spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile in India.
Samphel, speaking by telephone from the north-Indian hill-town of Dharamsala where the Dalai Lama and his government are based, said the envoys would meet Chinese officials for the eighth round of talks.
"The envoys had their final briefing from Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the government-in-exile. The details and dates of the talks will be known after they arrive in China," he added.
The seventh round of talks was held in China in early July following violent unrest in areas populated by Tibetans ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games.
After their return to India, the two envoys reported little headway had been made in the dialogue, saying they found an "absence of serious and sincere commitment" from the Chinese side.
On the other hand, Beijing had criticized Dalai Lama of supporting the anti-Chinese riots and demanded proof that he does not support Tibetan independence.
In the past years, the 73-year-old Dalai Lama has adopted a "middle-way" approach - publicly renouncing independence in favour of "meaningful autonomy" for Tibet.
Local media outlets reported that over the weekend the Dalai Lama had expressed disappointment over the lack of progress in talks with China.
The Tibetan government later called for a rare session of the Tibetan exiles from November 17 to discuss their "collective future," the IANS news agency reported.
More than 500 top Tibetan leaders will assemble in Dharamsala to deliberate on whether to seek complete independence for Tibet instead of autonomy under the Chinese rule, the report said.
