In Time magazine, Simon Elegant examines the changing relationship between Beijing and Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama:
Monday yielded one clear clue when Chinese media carried stories on the meeting the previous day between representatives of the Dalai Lama and envoys from Beijing. Although the talks have been going on since 2002, this was the first time the Chinese public had heard about them, a sign for many analysts that Beijing was softening its previously hardline stance regarding the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. It was also noted that President Hu Jintao had said he expected “positive results” from the talks, another first. Other analyses dwelled on the language used in the official media reports, some of which spoke of the “Dalai Lama group” rather than using phrases such as the “Dalai clique” or “splittist clique” that are usually employed.
According to official accounts, the two sides closed the day-long talks by agreeing to meet again for further talks at an unspecified date. That was seen as another good sign by some. But for all the positive signals, the impediments to real progress remain formidable, and pessimistic observers wondered whether Beijing’s apparently more accommodating stance wasn’t more motivated by a desire to regain some international credibility on the issue in the three months leading up to the Games. “Of course, we all want to believe that there could be some big changes and that China may take a more conciliatory approach,” says one senior Western diplomat in the capital. “But you have to weigh against that the history of the past 30 years, in which Beijing has not moved one inch.”
