There have been hopes there may be a liberalization of China's policies in dealing with Tibet under the new leadership of Xi Jinping. On March 11, 2013 the Tibet Sun reported,
Xi Jinping reviews situation in Tibet amid self-immolation protests. Amid expectations that the new leadership may consider fresh initiatives to end the self-immolation protests in the remote Himalayan region, China’s new leader Xi Jinping has reviewed the situation in a troubled Tibet.
Xi, who at 59 years-old, is the new General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), is set to take over as President next week, therefore formally ending the decade-long tenure of Hu Jintao. Xi has met the Tibetan delegation attending the annual legislature at the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s parliament. Xi was presented with letters of 108 monks wishing him good luck as he sets out for a ten-year term. At this meeting, political and administrative measures to end the self-immolations which overseas Tibetan groups say are aimed at protesting Chinese rule and call for return of the Dalai Lama from exile in India, were reportedly discussed.
Ahead of the change in power in Beijing, the Dalai Lama expressed hope that Xi, whose reformist father Xi Zhongxun, he knew before fleeing Tibet for self-exile to Dharmashala, would initiate steps to ease the situation in Tibet and its prefectures. In the past it has been reported there have been behind the lines talks between the Chinese government and Dalai Lama representatives, which were halted for over a year as they made little headway. Analysts have said that it is likely that the talks would be resumed later this year.
