Representatives of the Dalai Lama have expressed optimism about their recent meeting with Chinese officials.
Envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, head of the Tibetan delegation to the meeting, told a news conference Thursday that discussions last week in Bern, Switzerland, were concrete and substantive, and were held in a cordial, business-like atmosphere.
The envoy said major differences remain on a number of issues. But he added that the meeting gave both sides an opportunity to share views on the issues.
The June 30th and July first meetings were the fourth of a series of contacts that started in September, 2002.
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader has been struggling to gain some form of autonomy for his homeland since a failed anti-china uprising in 1959.
Envoy Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari, head of the Tibetan delegation to the meeting, told a news conference Thursday that discussions last week in Bern, Switzerland, were concrete and substantive, and were held in a cordial, business-like atmosphere.
The envoy said major differences remain on a number of issues. But he added that the meeting gave both sides an opportunity to share views on the issues.
The June 30th and July first meetings were the fourth of a series of contacts that started in September, 2002.
Tibet's exiled spiritual leader has been struggling to gain some form of autonomy for his homeland since a failed anti-china uprising in 1959.