From the New York Times:
Senior envoys of the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetans, announced Thursday that they had presented Chinese officials in Beijing with a memorandum on “genuine autonomy” for Tibetans living under Chinese rule.
Two senior envoys of the Dalai Lama left Beijing on Wednesday. They had arrived in China on Oct. 30 for an eighth round of talks between Tibetan and Chinese officials.
The envoys represent the Tibetan government in exile in Dharamsala in northern India. They returned to India on Thursday and released a statement.
It did not elaborate on the talks or the memorandum, which seems likely to have set out details of the Dalai Lama’s longstanding call for autonomy in China, rather than independence, a stance that in the past has made Chinese authorities suspicious.
Read also China, after talks, strikes hard line on Tibet from AP:
A senior Chinese official who met this week with representatives of the Dalai Lama on Thursday ruled out giving Tibet the kind of autonomy that Beijing grants Hong Kong, saying the Tibetan spiritual leader should “face reality.”
The remarks by Du Qinglin, head of a government department in charge of the talks, were the first public comment by China since the two days of discussions ended Wednesday. They add to the pessimism over the negotiations after the Dalai Lama said earlier this week he was unsure if they would produce any breakthroughs.
“It is impossible for Tibet to become independent, semi-independent, or independent in a disguised form,” Du said in remarks carried by the official Xinhua News Agency. “The Dalai Lama should respect history, face reality, comply with the times and correct his political stance fundamentally.”
