China Says It Is Ready to Meet Dalai Lama Envoys

BEIJING — China appeared to bend to international pressure on Friday as the government announced it would meet with envoys of the Dalai Lama, an unexpected shift that comes as Tibetan unrest in western China has threatened to cast a pall over the Beijing Olympics in August. China’s announcement, made through the country’s official news agency, provided few details about the shape or substance of the talks on the politically explosive issue of Tibet, but said discussions would begin “in the coming days.” The breakthrough comes as Chinese officials have pivoted this week and moved to tamp down the domestic nationalist anger unleashed by the Tibetan crisis and by the protests along the route of the international Olympic torch relay. “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,” said an unidentified Chinese official, according to Xinhua, the official news agency. Whether talks would have any substance or impact is open to question. The timing of China’s announcement suggests that the ruling Communist Party hopes to defuse the international criticism that has mounted since violent protests erupted March 14 in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, and then spread to other Tibetan areas of Western China. Chinese officials blame Tibetan rioters in Lhasa for the deaths of at least 18 civilians and one police officer, but Tibet’s government in exile in India has made unverified claims that Chinese security forces have killed more than 140 Tibetans. For weeks, Chinese officials have castigated the Dalai Lama and blamed him for orchestrating the protests. The Dalai Lama has denied any involvement. The state news media announced the Chinese decision on Friday, shortly after Prime Minister Wen Jiabao met with José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Union’s executive arm. Mr. Barroso called the announcement encouraging and said China appeared prepared to discuss all issues except sovereignty. “If the concern of the Dalai Lama is, as he has always stated, respect of cultural identity, religious identity and autonomy inside China, I believe, I believe, there’s real room for a dialogue,” he said, according to The Associated Press. The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, was returning to India from the United States on Friday. He has repeatedly called for renewed talks with Chinese officials and last month sent a letter to China’s president, Hu Jintao. Earlier this month, he hinted in Seattle that a back-channel discussion was already under way. On Friday, his spokesman, Tenzin Taklha, said, “Since His Holiness is committed to dialogue, we would welcome this.” The spokesman added that the Dalai Lama had not yet received any official communication from China. “We also have to look at when the offer does officially arrive,” he said from Dharamsala, India, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. “We have to look at conditions they are talking about.” For weeks, international leaders, including President Bush, have called on China to resume a dialogue with envoys of the Dalai Lama, and described him as a man of peace. The two sides held six prior rounds of discussions that began in 2002, but broke off last summer. Those talks were focused primarily on whether the Dalai Lama would be allowed to return to China. In Europe, criticism of China’s actions is particularly strong, as several government leaders have announced they will not attend the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games. Anti-China protesters caused violent disruptions to the Olympic torch relay in London and Paris. “I believe the important question is whether China is doing this as a public relations maneuver to respond to international pressure before the Olympic Games,” said Wang Lixiong, a scholar in Beijing who has criticized government policy in Tibet. “They want the Dalai Lama to help them relieve pressure before the Olympics. But is it a sincere move, or just a public relations move?” Shi Yinhong, a professor of international relations at People’s University in Beijing, said the Chinese government did not want the talks to be “interpreted as a concession under duress.” He predicted that any discussions would be unlikely to bring meaningful breakthroughs. “I doubt that both sides will change their fundamental positions,” Mr. Shi said. “If there is dialogue, this is dialogue for the sake of dialogue. Maybe both sides only want to impress the Western audience.” Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain and Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany have announced that they will not attend the opening ceremony of the Games on Aug. 8 and never intended to. The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, who has raised the possibility of skipping the opening ceremonies, said in a live interview on national television on Thursday night that as France took the six-month leadership of the European Union in July, he wanted to find a unified European stand on the Games.