China to Dalai Lama’s Tibetan envoys: No concessions on issues of national sovereignty

China stresses sovereignty in talks on Tibet

BEIJING — A senior Chinese official said Monday he told the Dalai Lama’s envoys that Beijing will not hold any sort of debate about its sovereignty over Tibet, indicating the first of such talks on the restive region in 15 months did not produce any breakthroughs.

The official Xinhua News Agency cited Du Qinglin, head of a government department in charge of the talks, as saying China’s national interest was inviolable, and “there can be no room for discussion, no room for compromise” on territorial issues.

At the last talks in 2008, the Dalai Lama’s envoys proposed a way for Tibetans to achieve more autonomy under the Chinese constitution — a key demand of the minority community. But China apparently rejected the plan, saying it would not allow Tibet the kind of latitude granted to the territories of Hong Kong and Macau. Chinese officials insisted they would only address the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to exile in 1959.

The Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharmsala, India, said last week it hoped the two sides would be able to revisit the proposal for greater autonomy. Du’s remarks, carried on the Web site of the United Front Department of the Communist Party, show Beijing did not waver from its earlier hard-line stance.

The Dalai Lama’s envoys Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen returned to India early Monday after meeting officials in Beijing over the weekend, according to Chhime R. Chhoekyapa, the Dalai Lama’s secretary.

Details were not available immediately about the discussions. After arriving in the Indian capital, the two envoys were expected to go to the northern Indian hill town of Dharmsala to brief the Tibetan prime minister-in-exile, Samdhong Rinpoche, on the talks, he said.

The Dalai Lama has maintained for decades that he is trying to seek meaningful autonomy for the Tibetan people under China’s rule, not independence.