Dalai Lama Willing to Meet Chinese Regime

The Dalai Lama has said he is willing to meet Chinese leaders but will wait for concrete signs that the situation in Tibet is "becoming more positive".

Speaking at a press conference, Tibet's spiritual leader said he was "always ready to meet Chinese leaders, particularly Hu Jintao" ? China's president, who in 1989 oversaw a bloody crackdown in Lhasa as the regional Communist party secretary.

Given the unrest in Tibet, the Dalai Lama said, he was unlikely to make an immediate trip to Beijing. "Going to Peking (Beijing) would be big news. Then many Tibetans would develop unrealistic expectations. I have to think about that very carefully."

The 73-year-old said he would wait until "after this crisis" for concrete changes in Tibet. "In the next few weeks and months I will see if there is something becoming more positive."

He was responding to a statement by the British prime minister, Gordon Brown, that the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, was willing to meet the Dalai Lama if the exiled leader agreed he did not support the total independence of Tibet and renounced violence.

The Dalai Lama said these two conditions had been met years ago. The two sides broke off talks last summer.

The Dalai Lama said he was concerned to hear that protests had spread outside Tibet. The state-run Xinhua news agency has reported unrest in Sichuan and Gansu provinces, and thousands of armed police have been sent there, as well as to neighboring Qinghai province, where there have been sporadic demonstrations.

The Dalai Lama said he was increasingly concerned about the plight of remote villagers who could bear the brunt of Chinese reprisals. "I am really worried a lot of casualties may happen. There are no medical facilities. These are helpless unarmed innocent people who simply love Tibetan culture."