Tibetan exiles meet on strategy

DEQIN, China: As the flames of anti-Chinese riots and protests engulfed many Tibetan areas of western China last spring, soldiers sent to the towns and villages of the deep river valleys around here encountered nothing but silence.

Political moderation is the norm in this corner of the Tibetan world. A steady flow of ethnic Han Chinese tourists has lifted incomes in recent years. Farmers convert old homes into guesthouses. Monasteries are erecting new buildings.

Perhaps nowhere is there a better example of the "middle way" attitude promoted by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Buddhist avatar who advocates a nonviolent movement for Tibetan autonomy within China but not outright independence.

"Whatever he does, we do," said Tashi, a driver who keeps a portrait of the Dalai Lama on his dashboard even though such images are banned in China. "We don't want to make trouble."

But the calm here could soon crumble, depending on the outcome of a six-day meeting of Tibetan exiles that began Monday in India. The conclave is the first of its kind since 1991. The Dalai Lama has called for hundreds of Tibetans to gather in the Himalayan town of Dharamsala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, to help decide on a new strategy for Tibet.