A senior Tibetan official said yesterday that the central government has been keeping open a communication channel with the Dalai Lama.

He also urged the exiled figure to "do things beneficial to the Tibetan people."

Qingba Puncog, chairman of Tibet Autonomous Region, told Xinhua on the sidelines of the just-concluded annual session of the National People's Congress that the central government has been sincere in holding negotiations with the Dalai Lama.

He said the Dalai Lama should be held fully responsible for the failed contacts in the past as he had misjudged the situation.

According to Qingba Puncog, the Dalai Lama sent his envoy home for the first time in 1979 and Deng Xiaoping made it clear then that the fundamental issue is for the Dalai Lama to declare and acknowledge that Tibet is an inseparable part of China.

The central authorities have since let the Dalai Lama's envoys come back for contacts many times. For example, his brother Gyalo Thondup alone has come back more than 10 times.

However, the chairman said the Dalai Lama had never given up the separatist activities and continued to change strategies to influence world opinion.

He stops talks whenever he thinks the situation is in his favour; and pledges to resume them when he thinks he is at a disadvantage.

Even when he is seeking contacts with the central government, the Dalai Lama has never given up separatist activities both at home and abroad, the chairman said.

(China Daily March 15, 2006)