US urges China dialogue with Dalai Lama

"We've long encouraged the Chinese government to hold direct and substantive discussions with the Dalai Lama or his representatives without preconditions (to resolve) differences," US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki was quoted as saying by the CTA.

Psaki was responding to a media query Wednesday about reports of exchange of emissaries between the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government and about the possibility of talks between the two sides.

"We believe that all people in the PRC (People's Republic of China) would benefit from the fruits of dialogue and urge the Chinese government to seize the opportunity to further engage with the Dalai Lama," she said.

The comments came just a day after a two-day meeting of the Task Force on Negotiations held here on the political developments in China and on issues relating to the future of a dialogue with the Chinese leadership.

Tibetan Prime Minister-in-exile Lobsang Sangay, who chaired the meeting, reiterated the Tibetan leadership's commitment for the peaceful resolution of the Tibetan issue.

"The Tibetan leadership remains firmly committed to non-violence and the middle-way approach and strongly believes that the only way to resolve the issue of Tibet is through dialogue," a statement quoted Sangay as saying.

The task force was set up by the government-in-exile in 1999 to assist envoys of the Dalai Lama to hold talks with the Chinese leadership.

China and the Dalai Lama's envoys have held nine rounds of talks since 2002.

In the last round - the ninth - held in Beijing in January 2010, the government-in-exile gave an "explanatory" note to the Chinese leadership to clarify its stand on "genuine autonomy" for the Tibetan people.

The Tibetan administration in exile is based in this north Indian hill town. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959.