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Dalai Lama's envoys to hold Tibet crisis talks in China Sat.

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Envoys of the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet will hold talks in China on Saturday to try and end the crisis in Tibet, the Dalai Lama's office said on Friday.
NEW DELHI, May 2 (RIA Novosti) - Envoys of the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet will hold talks in China on Saturday to try and end the crisis in Tibet, the Dalai Lama's office said on Friday.

The statement came after China announced last Tuesday it was ready to meet with representatives of the Dalai Lama, who they blame for riots in the Tibetan capital in March.

The Tibetan-government in exile, which is based in India, said on its website that the envoys would convey the Dalai Lama's "deep concern" over China's handling of the crisis in Tibet and bring "proposals on the peaceful settlement in the region."

The unrest in Tibet, which started March 10 when Buddhist monks took to the street to mark the 49th anniversary of a failed uprising against Chinese rule, left 19 people dead and 623 injured and caused an estimated $35-million worth of damage, according to official reports in China.

The Tibetan government in-exile, however, put the figure much higher at 203 dead, over 1,000 injured and 5,700 people still in custody.

China's handling of the protests in Tibet's capital, Lhasa, has been severely criticized in the West, with some leaders calling for a boycott of the opening ceremony of Beijing's Olympic Games in August until China agrees to hold talks with the Dalai Lama.

At the talks in China, the first since the outbreak of violence in March, the envoys will also look into the possibility of continuing "the process aimed at reaching a mutually acceptable solution" on Tibet, the website said.

The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959, has repeatedly said he seeks autonomy for Tibet rather than independence from China. Beijing has demanded that the spiritual leader recognize Tibet as a part of China.

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