Tibetan envoys head for China talks
Expectations tempered by official Chinese media’s renewed attacks on the Dalai Lama.
Media tirade
But as the talks were set to begin, China’s official media poured scorn over the Dalai Lama.
Saturday’s edition of the official Tibet Daily newspaper described him as a “criminal”.
John Harrison, a lecturer on international affairs at Nanyang Technological University, told Al Jazeera that the talks are about managing public image, and public relations, on the part of the Chinese government.
“We don’t have much high expectations,” he said.
This “is not the seventh round of talks”, Rinpoche said, referring to six rounds of dialogue on Tibetan autonomy that started in late 2002 and broke off in 2007.
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At least 5,715 people have been arrested since the protests began, Chinese officials said.
The unrest has both angered and embarrassed China in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics in August as pro-Tibet demonstrators have dogged each leg of the Olympic torch relay’s world tour.
Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1950 and officially annexed the region a year later.