Maybe the ice with the Dalai Lama is thawing as China's attitude towards dialogue with representatives of the Tibetan government-in-exile has changed. Beijing has not been ready in the past to have direct talks with the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile, which is based in India, but now it's ready to have direct negotiations with the Dalai Lama's representatives.
China no longer labels the Dalai Lama as a separatist, and this is certainly an important shift in Beijing's stance.
Also, Beijing for the first time in recent years, did not slam the Dalai Lama as a separatist and instead said it is ready to discuss his “personal future,” hinting that it is open for the 88-year-old monk to return to his homeland, Tibet, ending 65 of years of his exile in India.
Wang also spells out that China is still insisting on meeting with only the Dalai Lama's representatives and not with the Tibetan government-in-exile. Meanwhile, the political chief of the exile administration, Penpa Tsering, has admitted that the talks with Beijing are informal and long-term.
“The so-called ‘Tibetan government-in-exile’ is an entirely organised separatist political group with a political platform and an agenda for ‘Tibetan independence.’ It is an illegal organisation that violates China’s Constitution and laws. No country in the world recognises it,” Wang said.
In the long run, the Dalai Lama has held to the view that there should be Tibetan autonomy, not independence. This is in accord with his Middle-Way Policy. Still, despite many rounds of dialogue between Tibetan representatives and the Chinese government yielding nothing concrete, there remains a sense of optimism in Tibetan leadership that reviving dialogue is the key to resolving the Tibetan issue.
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