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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.

China has discovered hydrocarbon reserves totaling 13 billion metric tons of oil and gas equivalent in Tibet, paving the way for development of oil and gas resources there, a China-based industry official said.

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 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.

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Hillary Clinton has, in her much publicized memoir Living History revealed the strong interest that she and her husband, Bill Clinton, had in Tibet and the Dalai Lama. She refers to three events involving Tibet, which had a deep impact on her.