11. Dec 2009
Remarks by United Front leader "perplexing"
(Tibet.net) The special envoy of the Dalai Lama who heads the sino-Tibetan dialogue process with the PRC, Lodi Gyari, has expressed disconcertment at a remark Zhu Weiqun, vice minister of the United Front Work Department (UFWD) who conducts the talks for the Chinese side, made in an interview given to the state-run Global Times on 08 December. Referring to a statement by the Dalai Lama during his visit to Sydney, Australia, that "during the fifth round of talks in February 2006, officials of UFWD had told Lodi Gyari that they knew the Dalai Lama was not seeking an independent Tibet", Zhu said: "This is yet another lie from the Dalai Lama". In a statement reacting to Zhu's remark, Gyari said, "we are currently under discussion with the Chinese leadership on the next round of dialogue and so the timing and content of this interview are perplexing". He added that it was the Chinese side that had "cautioned" the Tibetan against "negotiating through the media". "But we see it is the Chinese side that is increasingly coming up with obstacles presented through selective interviews to the media".