ABSTRACT
The March 2008 Tibetan uprising and the subsequent Chinese crackdown raised considerable international concern about Chinese policies and human rights practices in Tibet. 1 While Chinese officials were angered by the riots in Tibet and by the international protests that followed the Olympic torch, they faced considerable international pressure to meet with the Dalai Lama and resolve this long-standing dispute. With the 2008 Beijing Olympics approaching, China immediately moved into the damage-control mode, though it appears without any intention to seriously address the underlying issues. They quickly held an informal meeting with the Dalai Lama’s representatives in Shenzhen near Hong Kong in May of 2008 and scheduled the seventh and eighth rounds in their ongoing formal discussions in July and October.
