Co-sponsored with the National Endowment for Democracy

NEW YORK, October 7, 2008 - As the eighth round of talks between Tibetan envoys and the Chinese government drew near, Tibet's Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, Special Envoy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, expressed his hope in conversation with New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof
that the Chinese would be "wise enough not to miss this opportunity"
for substantive progress on the China-Tibet relationship.

The Dalai Lama recently conceded that Tibet would be willing to
recognize Beijing Communist rule over Tibet if a clear agreement could
be reached that granted real autonomy, human rights, and religious
freedom to Tibetans. In Gyari's view, that acknowledgment presents a
new opportunity for China and Tibet—one he encouraged both sides to
embrace without fail.

Tactfully addressing the Dalai Lama's age, Gyari reflected that
without His Holiness there will be no equivalent figure who can reach
out to the Chinese government to resolve Tibet's status. He emphasized
that one of China's most serious challenges in Tibet is its lack of
legitimacy and that "only one person can help gain that legitmacy,"
citing the Dalai Lama's "historical and moral authority."

Gyari criticized the Chinese government for attempting to make the
Dalai Lama a "scapegoat" after the 2008 anniversary of the 1959 Lhasa
uprising, insisting again that they look to His Holiness not as the
problem but as "the solution for all of us." Despite his
criticism—which, he assured his audience, he doesn't withhold from the
Chinese—Gyari was optimistic that the Tibetans would come to the table
with concrete ideas for a mutual agreement based on the Chinese
constitution, and that the Chinese government was serious about
progress and not just "gaining time." He also commented on the
importance of reaching out to other countries, fearing that the
negotiations would stop if the international community were to turn its
attention elsewhere.

Reported by Kyle Carroll

Excerpt: Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari on the young Tibetan
generation in the absence of the Dalai Lama: "If the issue is not
resolved, I'm afraid a section of Tibetans will resort to violence" (3 min., 33 sec).

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Excerpt: On the possibility of His Holiness's visiting
China: "If we insist that he makes this visit [the Chinese Government]
will think that [we have] an agenda" (3 min., 43 sec.).

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Listen to the complete program (1 hr., 3 min.)

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