Yesterday I printed excerpts from Time's interview with the Dalai Lama, where he reiterated his pragmatic approach to Tibet and China. China's response? They completed rejected his overtures.

China rejects Dalai Lama's statement The Chinese Foreign Ministry accused him of being insincere, saying ‘‘We believe the Dalai Lama should genuinely abandon his position of advocating Tibet independence and make public statement acknowledging that Tibet and Taiwan are inseparable parts of China. He should also stop all his splittist activities abroad. Only this way, we can make further contact or initiate discussion with him."

While I understand the domestic pressures in Chinese politics that make such statements necessary, if China continues to insist on such dogmatic statements both over Tibet and in the Taiwan dispute, then neither will be solved any time soon. Should China start showing some degree of flexibility, as is the norm in diplomacy, there are great gains to be had. In the past week both Taiwan and Tibet are reaching for dialogue with China. China's refusals to engage are to its own detriment.