It is good that the Chinese government is meeting informally with representatives of the Dalai Lama, beginning Sunday.

Chinese President Hu Jintao said Sunday: "I hope that the contacts with the Dalai Lama's side from today will yield a positive outcome."

Also speaking hopefully about the talks in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, was Samdhong Rinpoche, prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile, based in Dharmsala, India. "We are positive that something good will come out of it," he told the Associated Press.

The Dalai Lama's representatives will press for peace in Tibetan areas of China. They will also challenge Beijing's charges that the Dalai Lama is orchestrating the recent violence which has killed many people in Lhasa.

China has been criticized around the world for its harsh response to protests in Tibet and Tibetan areas of western China.

The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed uprising, said that he wants autonomy for Tibet rather than independence from China. The spiritual leader said that China is committing "cultural genocide" against Tibet and its Buddhist traditions.

Some analysts say that China is meeting with the Dalai Lama's envoys only to ease international criticism before the Summer Olympics, which Beijing is hosting.

So be it. The important point is that the two sides are talking.