US asks China to have substantive talks with Tibetans

The United States on Thursday asked China to have substantive talks with the representatives of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, without any "pre condition", and called on the Chinese leadership to permit Tibetans to express their grievances freely.

"We urge the Chinese government to engage in a substantive dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives without preconditions as a means of addressing the grievances that the people of Tibet have and to relieve tensions," the State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference.

"We continue to call on Chinese government officials to permit Tibetans to express their grievances freely, publicly, and peacefully, without fear of retribution," Nuland said.

Responding to a question, she said that the new US Secretary of State John Kerry in his introductory teleconference call with his Chinese counterpart, raised the issue of human rights violations in the country.

"We are deeply concerned about the overall deteriorating human rights situation in Tibetan areas, including not on the tragic self-immolations, but also that criminal laws have been used to deal with people who have associated with those people," the US official said.