Central Tibetan Administration
July 10th, 2007
The sixth round of talks: (from left
to right) Bhuchung K. Tsering, Sonam N. Dagpo, Envoy Kelsang
Gyaltsen, Special Envoy Lodi Gyari, Executive Vice Minister
of the Central United Front Work Department Zhu Weiqun and
Vice Minister Sithar
The Dalai
Lama's Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen and I, accompanied by two
members of our Task Force, Sonam N. Dagpo and Bhuchung K.
Tsering, visited China from June 29 to July 5, 2007 for the
sixth round of discussions with the Chinese leadership. On our
return to Dharamsala we made our reports to His Holiness the
Dalai Lama and Kalon Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche. We have also
briefed the Speaker and the Deputy Speaker of the Tibetan
Parliament in Exile and the Kashag.
During this
trip three sessions of discussion were held over a day and a
half in Shanghai and Nanjing. The Executive Vice Minister of
the Central United Front Work Department, Zhu Weiqun, and the
Vice Minister, Sithar (who has been recently promoted to this
post), led the discussions from the Chinese side. The
discussions were candid and frank. Both sides expressed in
strong terms their divergent positions and views on a number
of issues.
Our dialogue
process has reached a critical stage. We conveyed our serious
concerns in the strongest possible manner on the overall
Tibetan issue and made some concrete proposals for
implementation if our dialogue process is to go forward.
We were
instructed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama to submit a
comprehensive analysis of the dialogue process. The Kalon
Tripa Samdhong Rinpoche will be convening a meeting of the
Task Force, which has been specially established to assist the
Envoys in the dialogue process.
