31st Task Force meeting on Sino-Tibet negotiation underway in Dharamsala
DHARAMSALA, 16 May: A two-day Task Force meeting on Negotiation began 15 May in Dharamsala to discuss and review the prospects of dialogue process in the light of prevailing situation inside Tibet and China.
This is the 31st Task Force meeting since its inception in 1999 and 9th since President Lobsang Sangay, the elected head of the Tibetan people took charge of the political affairs of the Tibetan people in 2011.
President Sangay will preside over the two-day meeting wherein ideas and opinions will be brainstormed to formulate policies and strategies to find a mutually acceptable resolution to the issue of Tibet.
“The 31st Task Force meeting began by observing a moment of silence for late Gyari Lodoe Gyaltsen, Lodi Gyari, former Special Envoy for the Dalai Lama and a member of the Task Force,” CTA spokesperson Sonam Norbu Dagpo told the press while briefing on the meeting.
“Important topics such as China’s relation with Europe and US as well as China’s role in global politics will be discussed at length to determine what we can do to achieve the objective of the meeting,” he concluded.
The Task Force on Sino-Tibetan negotiation was constituted to help recommend policy matters and strategies to find a peaceful and mutually acceptable negotiated resolution to the issue of Tibet.
Nine rounds of talks were held between the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and representatives of China’s United Front Work Department since 2002.
During the course of nine rounds of Sino-Tibetan talks, the Tibetan side had presented to the Chinese leadership a Memorandum and Note seeking genuine autonomy for Tibet as enshrined in the Chinese constitution and Law on Regional National Autonomy.
The ninth and the last round of talks was held in 2010 and in 2012, the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama resigned from their positions citing overall deteriorating situation inside Tibet and “lack of willingness and sincerity” from the Chinese side.
