The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Shenzhen

Chinese officials and envoys of the Dalai Lama have agreed to a second round of talks, China's state-run news agency said in an apparent sign of progress in easing tensions raised by violent anti-government riots in Tibet.

Xinhua also said, however, that the Chinese officials told the Dalai Lama's envoys at their first meeting Sunday that the protests had spawned new obstacles to communication.

International critics have accused China of heavy-handed tactics in quelling the anti-government riots and protests in Tibet and Tibetan areas of western China. Some experts believe Beijing agreed to meet with the envoys to defuse that criticism ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August.

The Xinhua report late Sunday said that Chinese officials had answered questions raised by the Dalai Lama's envoys at the meeting in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

"The two sides agreed another round of contact would be held at an appropriate time," Xinhua said, citing the unidentified sources.

But Xinhua added that the Chinese officials told the Dalai Lama's envoys that the violent protests "had given rise to new obstacles for resuming contacts and consultations with the Dalai side."

President Hu Jintao said in Beijing as the two parties met that he hoped for a "positive outcome" and that the "door of dialogue remains open," Xinhua reported earlier Sunday.

Xinhua said the meeting took place "at the repeated requests made by the Dalai side."

The meeting's exact location in Shenzhen, close to Hong Kong, was not announced. A large group of foreign reporters waited outside a palm tree-lined statehouse compound in suburban Shenzhen that was believed to be the meeting venue. But no sign of the parties was seen.

The Dalai Lama has repeatedly said he was not behind the recent unrest, and that his envoys planned to ask China to address the accusations, said Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharmsala, India.