China to Dalai Lama: No, Again

Some more information has come out about the ninth eighth round of talks between the Dalai Lama’s representatives and Beijing officials, which finished late last week. According to wire service reports a paper proposing “genuine independence” was presented by the Tibetans along with some detailed proposals about removal of Chinese troops and what sounded like a sort of affirmative action program that would favor ethnic Tibetans over other races. It was presumably one last effort to see if Beijing was willing to make any compromise at all. No surprise that the Chinese answer was a flat ‘no.” Now attention shifts to the big meeting of exiled Tibetans in Dharamsala on the 17th. From the tone of his remarks recently it sounds as though the Dalai Lama is ready to do something drastic. Resign? Propose elections for his successor? I’m not sure how much difference these moves would make, but as the alternative is to give up completely, he doesn’t have much option.