China announced today it would resume talks with an envoy of the Dalai Lama that have been broken off since July 2007.
This is great news. McClatchy’s Tim Johnson reports that the official Xinhua news agency has found a way to start climbing down from its recently belligerent anti-DL rhetoric by issuing the following statement:
- It is hoped that through contact and consultation, the Dalai side will take credible moves to stop activities aimed at splitting China, stop plotting and inciting violence and stop disrupting and sabotaging the Beijing Olympic Games so as to create conditions for talks.
Still not a strongly “enlightened” statement, but it looks as if they’re trying to find a way to bring the Chinese people along with the process of diplomatic re-engagement.
The very best of luck to this effort.