# China has signalled it would meet envoys of the Dalai Lama in coming days, following weeks of calls from world leaders for talks in the aftermath of anti-Chinese riots in Tibet.

# While Beijing’s tone since March’s riots has been aggressively anti-Dalai Lama, there has long been a view Beijing could engage in dialogue because there are fears that when he dies, it could create a power vacuum which violent, young separatists could try to fill.

# Beijing sees itself as a force that freed Tibetans of the backward yoke of a theocracy, bringing prosperity, and opening up the secretive region to modern ways.