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China to Dalai Lama: use your influence to stop violence

Beijing: China on Monday asked the Dalai Lama to use his “influence” to stop violence in Tibet and said the “channels” for dialogue with him were “always open.”

“The channels for dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama are always open,” Premier Wen Jiabao said during a visit to Laos, as the Olympic flame arrived here under tight security to thwart Tibetan protests.

“As long as the Dalai Lama abandons the claim for ‘Tibet independence,’ especially uses his influence to stop the violence in Tibet, and recognises both Tibet and Taiwan as inseparable parts of China, the Chinese government is to continue resuming dialogues with him,” Mr. Wen was quoted as saying by the State-run Xinhua news agency.

Mr. Wen’s comments are seen as an apparent softening of China’s stand on the 72-year-old exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. The Premier’s statement also comes after the U.S. and other Western powers intensified pressure on Beijing to talk to the Dalai Lama on the Tibet issue.

Meanwhile, the Chinese police rounded up new suspects in connection with the pro-independence protests in two decades in Tibet, taking the number of those arrested to 414, reports said. — PTI

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