A leading US official on Monday, April 21, 2008 reiterated what President George W Bush had maintained, a dialogue process between Republic of China and His Holiness Dalai Lama. Undersecretary of State, Paula Dobriansky wrote in the Washington Post, that meaningful dialogue is the only viable way to move forward with the China-Tibet issue. Dobriansky further wrote in the newspaper that President Bush has repeatedly expressed his own steadfast support for dialogue between Dalai Lama and China’s leadership.

 

Paula Dobriansky was scheduled to meet the Buddhist Tibetan spiritual leader later in the day, who is on his first foreign trip to the US after the mobilization of Chinese army in Tibet last month. The Undersecretary of the State remarked that His Holiness Dalai Lama is the only person with the ‘influence and credibility’ to persuade Tibetans to shun violence and accept a genuine autonomy within China, that would also preserve Tibetan culture and identity. She urged the Chinese government for unfettered access to Tibet by foreign media and officials and plead to them to stop any sort of repression on the Tibetans.