‘A good start’ Dalai Lama says of talks between Tibet, China

“It looks like a good start,” the Dalai Lama said today of talks between the Chinese government and representatives of the Tibetan government in exile.

“The Chinese government has a more and more positive attitudes toward us,” said the Dalai Lama said Wednesday, adding the main focus of the talks was to build confidence between the two sides.

The four-member delegation, which left for Beijing May 25, is led by Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, the Dalai Lama’s Special Envoy, and is the second to visit China since Beijing and the exiled government re-established contact in September 2002 after nine years.

The Dalai Lama made these remarks Wednesday in Copenhagen, Denmark, where he is on a European tour.

After a meeting with Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller, the Dalai Lama reiterated that the Tibetan government in exile “not seeking independence.”

“We’re following the one-China line,” he said.

China has characterized the visit as a private one, part of its refusal to officially acknowledge the Tibetan government in exile.