Chinese, Dalai Lama officials to meet

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The meeting in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen would be the first between the two sides since violent anti-government protests erupted in Tibet in March.

Envoys were expected to arrive in Hong Kong on Saturday and travel to the neighboring city of Shenzhen for meetings that will begin Sunday, said Prime Minister Samdhong Rimpoche of the India-based Tibetan government-in-exile.

The representatives, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, would convey "deep concerns" over China's handling of the situation in Tibet and would put forward "suggestions to bring peace to the region," the Tibetan government-in-exile said in a statement Friday.

It called the meetings "informal talks with representatives of the Chinese leadership."

China has faced mounting international calls to negotiate with the Dalai Lama, and some experts believe Beijing agreed to meet to ease pressure ahead of the Olympics, which begin in August.

The Tibet talks were not mentioned Saturday in China's entirely state-run media, but two articles continued to accuse the Dalai Lama and his supporters of organizing riots with an aim of breaking the far western Himalayan region of Tibet away from Chinese rule.

"The hope of realizing Tibetan independence by the Dalai clique has become more and more dim. When their hopes shattered, the Dalai clique launched bloody violence, this was their last act of madness," the Tibet Daily said.

The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid a failed uprising in 1959, says he is seeking meaningful autonomy for Tibet rather than independence from Chinese rule. He has decried "cultural genocide" in his homeland, which has a unique Buddhist tradition distinct from the rest of China.

The Dalai Lama is deeply revered by Tibetans. Men in that position have traditionally been regarded as both the spiritual and political leader of Tibetan Buddhists.

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