Monday, Jul 11, 2005
U.S. raises Tibet issue in talks with China
P. S. Suryanarayana
China should reach out to the Dalai Lama though he is no threat: Rice
SINGAPORE: Even as China affirmed its "willingness to further strengthen the constructive and cooperative relations" with Washington, the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, raised the Tibet issue in her talks with Chinese leaders in Beijing on Sunday.
Ms. Rice, who arrived in Beijing on Saturday on a tour of East Asia, called on Chinese President Hu Jintao and Prime Minister Wen Jiabao besides holding talks with Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing.
Ms. Rice, who appreciated China's role in bringing North Korea back to the negotiating table on its nuclear-weapons issue, said Pyongyang should help move the related six-party parleys beyond the stage of "talks about talks."
While she is understood to have agreed with the Chinese leaders that Washington, too, saw the positive aspects of its dialogue with Beijing, Ms. Rice told a press conference after the talks that she raised the Tibet issue, with particular reference to Dalai Lama. Maintaining that Dalai Lama posed "no threat" to China, she suggested that it should "reach out" to him.
With the issues of Taiwan and China's "military build-up" also apparently figuring in her talks, Ms. Rice covered a "broad agenda" as Washington indicated prior to her arrival in Beijing.
Mr. Wen Jiabao noted, in his conversation with Ms. Rice, that it was the "strategic choice" of both countries to safeguard and promote a robust and stable development of bilateral relations, according to the Chinese side.
He emphasised China's readiness to further reinforce its ties with the U.S. on the basis of "mutual respect, equality and mutual benefits".
Copyright © 2005, The Hindu.