World / Dalai Lama China Offers to Restart Talks With Dalai Lama Tibetan leader should 'treasure this opportunity': Beijing By Nick McMaster, Newser Staff Posted Oct 29, 2008 12:49 PM CDT Copied Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, center, prepares to shake hands with an unidentified person at the Gaggal Airport in Dharamsala, India, Monday, Oct. 6, 2008 as he leaves for New Delhi. (AP Photo) China has offered a fresh round of negotiations with the Dalai Lama on Tibet’s political status, the BBC reports. The religious leader should “treasure this opportunity,” according to an announcement in Chinese state media, which added that Beijing was willing to overlook the violent Tibetan protests that broke out last March. The Dalai Lama said over the weekend that he doubts whether talks with China will ever result in substantive change. (More Dalai Lama stories.) Report an error