Tibet rejects China's condition for talks

The Tibetan government in-exile on Tuesday rejected Chinese President Jiang Zemin's proposal that his country would open dialogue with the Dalai Lama if the spiritual leader publically recognised Tibet as an inalienable part of China.

"It is the same old wine in a new bottle," said Tempa Tsering, secretary of the department of information and international relations of the central Tibetan administration at Dharamsala, near Shimla.

In a statement, he said Zemin was virtually directing the Dalai Lama to re-write Tibetan history and accept the ''fiction'' that Tibet historically was part of China. ''His Holiness can never do this,'' he added.

Tsering said the Dalai Lama was on record saying that this would constitute an ''enormous historical lie'' and would have no part in it.

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