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interests, other than humanitarian, in Tibet - had
elected not to annoy the Chinese gratuitously over the Dalai Lama. Since March the situation has changed in two ways Firstly several other Western leaders, including President Bush, have now received him (I enclose a list).
Secondly the Prime Minister has told the Chinese that human rights are a central element in our relations.
these reasons
reasons the Foreign Secretary advised the Prime Minister to receive the Dalai Lama on this occasion.
role as
For
We are describing the meeting as taking place in the Dalai Lama's spiritual capacity in recognition of his
a man of peace and as evidence of our continuing concern about human rights in China. The presence of the Archbishop will serve to underline this important presentational point. Both the Chinese and the Tibet Support Groups for their own different reason will see the meeting as political. In one sense this i s of course true in that the meeting serves to make an important political point about human rights and our view that the Tibetans should be granted a greater measure of autonomy. Where we differ from the Tibet Support Groups is in
attributing to the meeting any significance in respect of our attitude to the status of Tibet. 'The Tibet Support Groups,
and indeed the Dalai Lama, advocate independence for Tibet. The Prime Minister usefully made clear in answer to the Question from Dr Godman on 21 November that
no country regards Tibet as independent.
Against this background we recommend that the
Prime Minister should concentrate,
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so far as possible, on