Dalai Lama envoys to meet Chinese

(What do the Chinese want to talk about?) The Chinese want to be making the gesture that they’re reasonable and open to talking, but what they always say before talking is that Tibet and Taiwan have always been part of China. The Dalai Lama doesn’t agree to that and then things don’t usually go any further. (So how long do those talks last for?) The envoys usually stick around for a day or two and then they leave. There have been six rounds of talks between 2000 and 2006 and what the Dalai Lama wants is a Tibetan autonomous region that includes not just the current such region but also ethnic Tibetans in other Chinese provinces which historically were part of Tibet. (So why do the Tibetans go to Beijing?) They have no other choice. (The Chinese government says the unrest in Tibet was orchestrated by the Dalai Lama, how do they make that case?) They point to circumstantial associations. A lot of it is to try to discredit him to both Chinese and Tibetans. The Chinese don’t get what effect that insult actually has on Tibetan people. (And how much do the people actually buy the Chinese line on that?) Most people I speak to do buy it because that’s all they hear and know. But there is a small group of educated Chinese who have found Tibetan Buddhism and thus become more familiar to the Dalai Lama. (Is there any chance with the bright spotlight of the Olympics that it could cause a breakthrough?) I guess there’s always a chance but not a big one at all. The Chinese government just wants stability.