IndiaPost.com - Dalai seeks US help on Tibet

WASHINGTON: The Dalai Lama has sought US "help" in resolving the vexed Tibet issue as the Bush administration pressed China to open dialogue with the exiled spiritual leader. "At this moment we need your help," the 72-year-old saffron-robed spiritual leader told US special envoy on Tibet Paula Dobriansky as they met in Michigan, adding that the issue of Tibet was "very significant." Dobriansky said the meeting with the Dalai Lama provides a "timely opportunity" to discuss the situation in Tibet.

"The Bush administration has expressed concern about the situation in Tibet and has urged restraint," she said. "In particular, President (George W) Bush has been a steadfast supporter for the need for dialogue between His Holiness and Chinese leaders." The State Department has not released details of the meeting, the first since massive anti-China protests rocked Tibet in mid-March, focusing global attention on the plight of Tibetans under the Chinese rule.

Soon after the 12th meeting between Dobriansky and the Dalai Lama since 2001, the US State Department asked China to resume dialogue with the spiritual leader, stressing that 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate was not seeking independence of Tibet, but talks to resolve outstanding issues on it. "We'd certainly like to see that dialogue resume.

As you point out, it is something that has gone on in the past and we think it's the best way to be able to manage and deal with the problems in Tibet," State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey said.

"We want to hear from him about his ideas and what he believes might be the next appropriate steps in this," Casey said. "We are certainly going to, of course, also continue to have discussions with the government of China about this." Casey also noted that the Dalai Lama had been seeking dialogue with Chinese authorities to be able to help resolve many of the outstanding questions, including people's rights to practice their religion freely, to observe their cultural traditions freely and to be able to otherwise enjoy some basic civil liberties.

Beijing has held talks through unofficial channels with envoys of the Dalai Lama on the Tibet issue but the dialogue was suspended last summer. Earlier, in a powerful editorial for the Washington Post, Dobriansky wrote that the best and only way forward for China to resolve the Tibet issue was "meaningful dialogue" with the Dalai Lama who has met Beijing's "preconditions" for talks.

"The Dalai Lama is the only person with the influence and credibility to persuade Tibetans to eschew violence and accept a genuine autonomy within China that would also preserve Tibetan culture and identity," she wrote. "Although the Chinese government recently arranged official trips to Lhasa for journalists and diplomats, we continue to call for unfettered access for all media and foreign diplomats into Tibetan areas," Dobriansky wrote.

Protests directed against the Chinese rule rocked the Tibetan capital Lhasa since March 14. Exiled Tibetans say over 150 people had died in the Chinese government crackdown in Tibet and nearby provinces. China says Tibetan "rioters" killed 18 civilians and two policemen. China's crackdown triggered international concern, outrage, with major protests taking place during the Beijing Olympic torch relay in London, Paris and San Francisco.

The Dalai Lama, who has been living in exile in India since fleeing Tibet after a failed uprising in 1959, arrived in Seattle on April 10 on his first foreign trip since Beijing's crackdown in Tibet.