His Holiness’ Envoys to Visit China Soon
Dharamshala 5 May 2005: The envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama will soon make their fourth trip to China, according to Lodi Gyari, His Holiness’ Special Envoy in Washington.
“Everything is decided except the timing of the visit, and we are in touch with concerned Chinese leadership,” said envoy Gyari on the Voice of America’s (VOA) Tibetan-language program, Talk to VOA.
Envoy Gyari said that the Sino-Tibetan problem is an “extremely complex” issue that can not be resolved within a short period of time. Accompanied by envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen and two assistants, he visited Tibet and several locations in China for the third time since the revival of relationship with China after a decade long standoff.
Gyari said that Tibetan exiles did not protest during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s mid-April visit to India, as they normally would have, because the Central Tibetan Administration had urged Tibetans to refrain from demonstrating against the visit in order to create an atmosphere conducive to Tibetan-Chinese dialogue.
Asked if this amounted to appeasement, he said the Central Tibetan Administration felt that restraint was in the interest of the Tibetan people. Gyari pointed out that despite the Central Tibetan Adminisration’s stance, the Tibetan Youth Congress, which advocates complete independence for Tibet, did manage to stage some protests despite stringent Indian security preparations.