DHARAMSALA, India, - Envoys for the Dalai Lama said on Tuesday they had proposed to China a "common effort" to study the situation inside Tibet, saying such a move could help reconcile differences.
Having returned from talks in China last week, envoy Kasur Lodi Gyari said they were briefed about a new Chinese policy approach that for the first time includes all Tibetan regions.
China's fifth work conference on Tibet includes all Tibetan regions under the same policy umbrella and will set targets for accelerated development and better social services.
"If we take away the political slogan, many of the issues that have been prioritised by the (conference) are similar to the basic needs of the Tibetan people outlined in our memorandum," Kasur Lodi Gyari, one of the Dalai Lama's envoys, said. He said a major difference between the two sides is the conflicting perspective on the situation inside Tibet.
"So, in order to have a common understanding of the real situation, we suggested a common effort to study the actual reality on the ground ... This will help both sides to move beyond each others' contentions."
Kelsang Gyaltsen, another Tibetan envoy, told Reuters that there was no shift in Beijing's stand, but Chinese officials were more willing than before to hear the Tibetan side.
Talks between the two sides began in 2002 but broke down amid acrimony in 2008. China says the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Dalai Lama is a violent separatist, but he says he only wants genuine autonomy for his homeland. (Reporting by Abhishek Madhukar; Editing by Krittivas Mukherjee)
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