Dalai Lama's representatives to arrive in China for fresh talks

Dharamsala, Jan. 26 (ANI): In a bid to revive talks with Beijing, special envoys of Tibetan spiritual leader-in-exile Dalai Lama are arriving in China on Tuesday.

In a statement issued on Monday, a top official of the Tibetan government-in-exile disclosed that special envoys - Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen - would be accompanied by three other Tibetan officials during their visit to China.

"His Holiness the Dalai Lama's special envoy Lodi G Gyari and Envoy Kelsang Gyaltsen will arrive in China tomorrow for discussions with the representatives of the Chinese leadership," said Thubten Samphel, the official spokesperson of Tibetan government-in-exile.

The two sides have held eight rounds of talks since 2002, but little of substance has been achieved. The last round of discussions in July 2008 ended in acrimony.

"This is the ninth round of dialogue. The envoys are visiting China after a gap of 15 months in the process that began in 2002," said Thubten Samphel.

However, many Tibetans are not optimistic about the dialogue.

"I don't very much expect anything new that's coming out of this ninth round of talk between envoys of His Holiness and Chinese government because what happened in 2008 and preceding that event, the tight control and the way China is sentencing the people who took part in it. It's a very bleak sign and I am very cynical of the way China is taking control of this so called 'talks'," said Tenzin Cheoying, President of Students for a Free Tibet.

The envoys visit comes days after Beijing held a top policy meeting on Tibet.

The meeting pledged to 'leap-frog' the development of Tibet by raising infrastructure quality and agricultural incomes to national levels by 2020.

Tibet's potential for social instability makes it a possible risk for investors in China and a key area for foreign governments interested in the country's peaceful development, analysts say.(ANI)