So they'll talk...

It was recently announced that China has accepted offers to talk with representatives of Tibet's Government in Exile. This is most certainly a positive step. The US and major European nations as well as Japan have greeted this move positively as well.

However, I do have a few questions. Xinhua states, "the relevant department of the central government" will meet with the Dalai's private representative. .... "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 the Dalai's private representative in the coming days," an official said. The Dalai Lama's position has been to receive "meaningful" autonomy - akin to that of Hong Kong. He has not advocated any form of seperatism in over 20 years. Meaningful autonomy would be a significant shift on the part of the Chinese central government. If they are even remotely willing to make a good faith discussion on this end, they would likely send a higher level official.

So my question is what does "relevant department of the central government" mean? The Chinese government has spoken with representatives of the Dalai Lama before and have only chatted - no sincere effort on their part to make "meaningful" change. Is this move by the Chinese government simply a public relations effort to look good in front of the International community or is it a genuine response to pressure and the realization that the current policies will not result in internal stability or international regard?

Even for a more cynical analyist its a good move for the Chinese. To their public, they can say "hey this Dalai guy says he wants dialogue so we gave dialogue but he wouldn't budge. We tried, he's the bad guy." To the int'l community, they can say "hey we're working on this, you have to respect our processes but see, we're trying to play nice". They can do both of these things with no intention of actually changing their policies. I'd bet that's the strategy.

At the same time, the Dalai Lama has been deeply unsucessful in generating and using political leverage to achieve his objectives. Simply put, the Chinese have run circles around him and the Tibetan Government in Exile. To make any progress the Dalai Lama and company will have to be more strategic and push harder than they have in the past.

If there is genuine concern on the part of European, American, and Japanese officials, they will follow the process closely and push to make sure it remains a legitimate one aimed at achieving "meaningful" results.

In the end though, I just don't see the Chinese as willing to significantly alter their policies or the Tibetan Government in Exile as organized or forceful enough to push for meaningful change or officials for other governments as caring enough about the issue to ensure something really happens. I hope I'm wrong.