China's President Hu Jintao says he hopes for a «positive outcome» from talks between representatives of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials beginning Sunday. «I hope that the contacts with the Dalai Lama's side from today will yield a positive outcome, » Hu told Japanese reporters in Beijing, the Kyodo News agency reported. Samdhong Rinpoche, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharmsala, India, said Sunday the envoys were in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and talks began in the morning. He said he had no other details. Discussions were scheduled to last a day or two, said Rinpoche. «We are positive that something good will come out of it,» Rinpoche told The Associated Press. The Dalai Lama's envoys, Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, were meeting with two vice ministers of the United Front Work Department, which deals with influential people in groups outside China's Communist Party.
