Chinese officials to meet with Dalai Lama delegates

BEIJING – With unrest in Tibet casting a shadow over the Summer Olympics, Chinese officials will hold an emergency meeting today with the Dalai Lama’s negotiators, the office of the exiled Tibetan leader said Friday.

It will be the first time the Dalai Lama’s representatives have been invited to China since last summer. A major topic is expected to be the arrests of hundreds of Tibetans accused of participating in the largest protests against Chinese rule in Tibet since the mid-1980s.

In a statement released by the Dalai Lama’s office in Dharamsala, India, the Tibetans said there would be a brief visit devoted to the “current crisis in the Tibetan areas.” Special envoys Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen will convey the Dalai Lama’s “deep concerns about the Chinese authorities’ handling of the situation and also provide suggestions to bring peace to the region,” the statement said.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Chinese government.

Tibetan advocates on Friday hailed the meeting as a sign that the Chinese were bowing to international pressure. World leaders, including President Bush and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, have called on China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Many have made a dialogue with the exiled Tibetan a precondition for attending the Aug. 8 opening ceremony of the Summer Games in Beijing. The relay of the Olympic torch around the globe in recent weeks has been marred by protests against China’s Tibet policy.

“The Chinese realized this was a crisis situation and they had to make a significant gesture,” said Mary Beth Markey, vice president of the International Campaign for Tibet.

But Robert Barnett, a Tibet specialist at Columbia University, was less optimistic about the meeting. “It would take huge political courage on the part of the Chinese to make any concessions at this time,” he said.