China's president said he was hoping for positive results from talks with envoys of the Dalai Lama, which opened today.
The fence-mending talks between Chinese officials and two aides of the Dalai Lama, the first since riots erupted in March, began behind closed doors in the city of Shenzhen.
The March unrest, the most serious challenge to Chinese rule in the mountainous region for nearly two decades, prompted anti-China protests that disrupted the international leg of the Olympic torch relay and led to calls to boycott August's Beijing Games.
Security was tight outside the state guest house where the talks were held. Reporters were not allowed into the compound.
Both sides agreed to hold another round of contact and consultation 'at an appropriate time' without saying when that would be.
China proposed the latest talks last month after Western governments urged it to open new dialogue with the Dalai Lama, who says he wants a high level of autonomy, not independence, for the predominantly Buddhist Himalayan homeland he fled in 1959.
