Dalai Lama says Tibet talks with China may restart

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The torch, currently threading its way through China, will be used to officially launch the Olympics in Beijing on Aug. 8. The relay is due in Tibet on June 19-21.

China says it has ruled Tibet for centuries, although many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially an independent state for most of that time. Chinese Communist troops occupied Tibet in 1951.

The March unrest was the most widespread and sustained action against Beijing's rule in decades. China says 22 people died in the March violence in Tibet's capital of Lhasa, while overseas Tibet supporters say many times that number have been killed in protests and the ensuing security crackdown across Tibetan regions of western China.

The Dalai Lama also commented on actress Sharon Stone's suggestion last month that China's earthquake disaster may have been the result of bad "karma" because of Beijing's treatment of Tibet. The comment drew outrage from China, and Stone apologized.

He indicated he had heard Stone's comment and said, "Of course, from the Buddhist view point every event is karma. So the tragedy on Tibetans, the tragedy in Burma, tragedy in China all this is karma."

The Dalai Lama is in Sydney to deliver a series of meditation lectures.

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