The delegation presents a souvenir to Dr Pramod Sawant, Speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly

The Tibetan government in exile in India have stated that they have commenced back-channel talks with China over the Tibet issue. A parliamentary delegation of the Tibetan government in exile said that they believe this dialogue will take the issue to a logical end and envisaged that India can play a vital role in addressing the Sino-Tibetan issue

“Backdoor talks with China are going on and we are sure talks will resume soon,” Youdon Aukatsang, Head of Tibetan Parliamentary Delegation told reporters in New Delhi. “We are very thankful to India for helping us all these years. India has a special position in Asia and we are sure it can play a major role in solving our issue,” she added.

“We met with governors, chief ministers, speakers, lawmakers and other political leaders in various Indian states as part of an outreach campaign launched by the Tibetan Parliament in Exile this year, marking its 60th anniversary of Tibetans in exile through a “Thank You India” campaign. All the states were very receptive to the message that we sought to convey to them,” Youdon said.

Till 2010, Tibet and China held many rounds of negotiations to resolve the issue, but the talks eventually stalled as China refused to accept any of the demand “There has been a stalemate in the talks since then, but we are still going to pursue the same policy. We have deep faith in it,” Youdon said.

“Our government has approved a mid-way approach, which was collectively passed the Tibetan Parliament in Exile in India. For Tibetans, the “mid-way approach” implies not seeking independence but genuine autonomy within the framework of the People’s Republic of China.

“We have been demanding autonomy where we can keep internal security, Tibetan as the main language and also asked Beijing to remove all “illegal” Chinese inhabitants which have been settled in Tibet all these years”.