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Dharamsala: Tibetan exiles have decided to continue with the Dalai Lama's "Middle Way" approach to China, the Tibetan government-in-exile said on Saturday.
The decision came after hundreds of Tibetans met this week in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, the seat of Tibet's government-in-exile, to chart a course for their movement after eight rounds of official talks with Beijing failed to make any progress.
The "Middle Way" approach abandoned the dream of an independent Tibet in favour of seeking greater autonomy within China through dialogue.
"We will continue with the Middle Way approach, and if there is no progress within a short period we will consider other options, including independence," Karma Choephel, speaker of the Tibet's parliament-in-exile, told a gathering of Tibetan exiles.
The exiled government's cabinet consulted thousands of Tibetans inside Tibet before a global conclave of exiles met this week to take a stand.
Analysts and many Tibetans think the 73-year-old Dalai Lama called the meeting partly to unite the Tibetan exile movement around a common approach and prepare the way for his gradual retirement, especially if his health starts to fail.
Others said the meeting would help to empower a political leadership to carry on the struggle.
There is an acknowledgement that the Middle Way has also failed and, unhappy at lack of progress, many younger Tibetans said they want to replace the Dalai Lama's non-confrontational method with a demand for outright independence.
Violence: Repression stories
Tibetans are regularly beaten up, their homes raided at night and hundreds have gone missing as a brutal Chinese crackdown continues inside Tibet, a group of Tibetan students who escaped into India this week said.
Most Tibetan towns are "swarming" with soldiers who have been arresting people even for mentioning the name of their spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 and now lives in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala.
"Soldiers picked up my uncle from his house, dragged him by his hair and kicked him in the face and stomach," Tsomo, a 30-year-old woman using only one name, said.
"Later we learnt that he died in a lock-up."
- Reuters
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