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Talks between India and China have led to a major breakthrough in relations, following a landmark agreement over the status of Tibet. India has now formally recognised that the area known as the Tibetan autonomous region is part of the People's Republic of China.

Tibetan exiles in India believe improved relations between India and China would help negotiations between the Dalai Lama and Beijing over Tibet, a Tibetan spokesman said on Tuesday.

The closing ceremony yesterday of the Sand Mandala created by monks of Drepung Loseling Monastery from India here at the Victoria and Albert Museum attracted more than 3000 people and helped to generate further interest in the Tibetan culture and cause.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with Jiang Zemin, Chairman of the Military Commission of China. (AFP/Frederic J. Brown)

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee continued his push for broader bilateral cooperation with China, meeting military chief Jiang Zemin ahead of talks with President Hu Jintao.

India has not taken any new position by reiterating that it recognises the administrative autonomous region of Tibet(TAR) formed in 1965 as part of Peoples Republic of China which came into being in 1949, informed sources said here today.

As one of our efforts to bring seriousness to the Tibetan struggle, friends of Tibet (INDIA) is continuing with the campaign to boycott `Made In China products. We began with this campaign from the beginning of this year January 1st 2003.

The Tibet question may or may not come up formally in the talks between the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, and his Chinese hosts in Beijing. But the political static from Tibet can never really be avoided in any engagement between the two neighbours.

Archaeologists have unearthed a cache of relics that will go some way to explaining ancient Tibetan existence, Chinese state press reported on Monday.

The Dalai Lama is now in Kargil as part of his three-week visit to Jammu and Kashmir. Earlier on June 12, he arrived in Buddhist-dominated Ladakh region where a large number of Tibetans living in exile gave him an warm welcome.