No Progress

For an external observer, no progress seems to have been made since Gyalo Thondup visited Beijing in 1979. During the 1982 and 1984 'talks', the Tibetan and Chinese negotiators were on a different wave length. The envoys from Dharamsala still thought in terms of 'self-determination;' while for Beijing independence was not negotiable.

The Chinese leadership was only ready to discuss the status of the Dalai Lama in case he would like to return to China (not Tibet), while the Tibetans' interest was the fate of six million Tibetans. The same trend continues today.

In May this year, when Lodi Gyari and Kalsang Gyalsten met Chinese government officials Zhu Weiqun and Sitar, they were designated by the spokesperson of the Chinese ministry of foreign affairs as 'two of Dalai Lama's private representatives,' to show that they only represent the Dalai Lama's interests.

One element of progress has nevertheless been made: For the first time their visit was officially acknowledged by Beijing. However, the existence of a Kashag or a Tibetan National Assembly in Dharamsala is still not admitted by Beijing.

Renouncement of independence

Even though the Tibetans in exile and their supporters were not conscious of it till 1988, the Dalai Lama's renouncement of self-determination or independence was contained in Deng Xiaoping's statement of 1979. Whether one agrees with its contents or not, the Strasbourg Proposal, when the Dalai Lama officially renounced independence, is the logical conclusion of the first contacts taken by Thondup.

Image: The Dalai Lama's envoys, Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, right, and Kelsang Gyaltsen, left, arrive in New Delhi, May 6, 2008. Talks between Chinese officials and the Tibetan government-in-exile's envoys were held in Shenzhen, China, on May 4. Photograph: Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images

Also read: 'The Dalai Lama is the most far-sighted and realistic politician'

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