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Tibetans to push for independence, Ball in China’s court now: Tibetan Prime Minister

by Sanjay Jha | November 18, 2008 at 11:27 pm

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Tibetans are mulling over the future course of action in their ongoing conclave at their exile headquarter in Dharamsala in north India. They are likely to push demand for full independece from China rather than Dalai Lama's middle path.

Kalon Tripa (Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile) Samdhong Rinpoche has said that the ball is now in the court of China to reciprocate to the memorandum submitted by the envoys of the Dalai Lama to them during the eight round of talks.

“As far as the ongoing meeting to decide the future course of action in dealing with China is concerned, the Central Tibetan Administration is sincerely committed to a genuine democratic system in reflecting the Tibetan people’s opinion on the future of Tibet,” he said.

He said the atmosphere in the ongoing meeting was powerful and emotionally charged as delegates were having open discussions on a wide range of matters, particularly concentrating their focus on fundamental issues of Tibet.

The November 17-22 meeting in Dharamsala that has brought over 500 Tibetan exiles from across the world together to rethink strategy and decide the future course of the movement, is being held in an “emotionally charged” atmosphere, he said.
The atmosphere is “powerful and emotionally charged as delegates are having open discussions on a wide range” of issues, he said. The delegates have mixed feelings of “hope and frustration,” Rinpoche added.
At the same time, he said the Tibetans never “blocked” negotiations and the “ball is now in China’s court” to reciprocate on the demand for “genuine autonomy” that was submitted to them during the eighth round of talks between the Dalai Lama’s representatives and Beijing earlier this month.