China said yesterday it would soon open fresh talks with aides to the Dalai Lama in a response to fierce pressure from world leaders less than four months before Beijing hosts the Olympic Games.
The state-run news agency Xinhua said government officials would meet “in the coming days” with a private representative of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
It would be the first known encounter between the two sides for a year.
The surprise announcement was immediately welcomed by a spokesman for the Dalai Lama as well as by the international community, with France, Japan and the EU and the US hailing the move as a step forward.
“In view of the requests repeatedly made by the Dalai side for resuming talks, the relevant department of the central government will have contact and consultation with Dalai’s private representative in the coming days,” Xinhua said.
A Dalai Lama spokesman called it “a step in the right direction.”
“Only face-to-face meetings can lead to a resolution of the Tibetan issue,” Tenzin Takla said.
The two sides resumed a long-dormant series of talks in late 2002 but they later broke off and the last known encounter between them was between June and July last year.
The official quoted by Xinhua said they hoped that through consultation, “the Dalai side will take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China, stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games so as to create conditions for talks.”
Exiled Tibetan leaders say the Chinese crackdown last month left more than 150 people dead. Beijing insists it acted with restraint, killing no one, and blames Tibetan “rioters” for the deaths of 20 people.
Meanwhile, protesters yesterday waved the Tibetan flag and denounced China’s rulers as the Beijing Olympic torch came to Japan for the latest relay leg.
Japan, which is trying to repair uneasy ties with China, has promised tight security for the torch run today through the central mountain town of Nagano, the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics.
As torch-bearers rolled into Nagano, hundreds of Falun Gong supporters marched with a loud brass band through the city’s streets condemning China’s leadership, which considers the spiritual movement an “evil cult.”
“Stop the mass murder by the Chinese Communist Party,” read a banner held by marchers in yellow Falun Gong T-shirts, who were closely watched by police.
Separate protesters waved Tibetan flags, including at a highway rest area where the Chinese torch delegation stopped on its way to Nagano, 180km north of Tokyo.
In related developments, French supermarket chain Carrefour, accused by some Chinese of supporting the Dalai Lama, canceled a sales promotion planned for the May Day holiday, state media said yesterday.
“Carrefour has canceled the week’s advertising activities related to the promotion, including the print media, broadcast and circulars during the coming May Day holiday period,” Xinhua news agency quoted Carrefour media manager Chen Bo as saying.
“We estimate that sales over the May Day holiday will decrease 20 percent from previous years,” Chen said, without linking the drop to protests.
Last weekend, Chinese took to the streets in several cities to demand a boycott of French goods.
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