Opinions

The area in front of the Potala Palace, a symbol of Tibetan culture, could now pass for a noisy street in Beijing. (European Press Agency)

Not far from Potala Palace, the hilltop fortress once home to Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, and still a symbol of Tibetan culture, the main commercial boulevard here has become a very different symbol, of how Tibet is inexorably becoming more Chinese.

Josef Astor for The New York Times

In the spring of 1992, out of the blue, the fax machine in Richard Davidson's office at the department of psychology at the University of Wisconsin at Madison spit out a letter from Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama visits Washington this week, and he may be bringing good news to a president sorely in need of it. For the first time in recent years, there is reason to hope that the Chinese are finally willing to consider new ways of resolving the protracted Tibetan problem.

In recent months, Western news media and human rights groups have focused attention on restrictions limiting Internet access in the People's Republic of China (PRC) to websites on sensitive topics, including most independently produced information on Tibet.

Local Tibetans who live near Mount Kailash have been warned by the authorities not to speak about plans for a road around the sacred mountain, an important place of pilgrimage for Buddhists, Bon practitioners, Jains and Hindus.

To his holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama: Welcome again to San Francisco. More than 25 years ago at Dharamsala, we talked about Sacred Mountains and your return to Tibet.

The horrific bomb blasts in Mumbai last week and the suicide bus bombings in Jerusalem the week before are two reminders that suicide terrorism is a growing trend in the fight for political "justice".

While Beijing and New Delhi are hailing improved ties and success in dealing with border issues, Manik Mehta finds that in reality very little has changed on the ground. Take Tibet, for example.