Today is the 73rd birthday of the Dalai Lama. That’s significant as it is now becoming increasingly clear that Beijing’s approach to the Tibet issue is to stall until he dies. The Beijing talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials last week appear to have been dire despite the fact that pretty well the only thing the Tibetans were asking for was a meeting with President Hu Jintao. The Tibetans said they were disappointed and that there was no point in talking if Beijing wasn’t going to be serious. Beijing said there would be more talks before the end of the year, which translated actually means….well, you can figure it out.
I guess I should have gone with my first instinct in my last, optimistic post on this issue. Looks as though the light at the end of the tunnel turned out to be that oncoming train after all. This doesn’t bode well at all for ordinary Tibetans. Reminds me of that phrase by some long gone dictator about Mexico, “Poor Mexico. So far from God, so close to the United States.”