Chinese President Hu Jintao said he had hopes for a “positive outcome” between envoys of the Dalai Lama and Chinese officials following the talks that began 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, according to China's official Xinhua News Agency. “Our policy on the Dalai Lama is clear and consistent, and the door of dialogue remains open,” he added.

Xinhua identified the Chinese negotiators as Zhu Weiqun and Sitar, both vice-ministers of the Communist Party's United Front Work and responsible for winning over religious leaders and ethnic minorities. Lodi Gyari and Kelsang Gyaltsen, the Dalai Lama's envoys, arrived in China on Saturday. The talks were scheduled to last for a day or two, Samdhong Rinpoche, Prime Minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamsala, India, said.

Before agreeing to talk to Tibet’s spiritual leader, the Chinese authorities accused Dalai Lama on several occasions of masterminding protests that came right before the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. China had said the Dalai Lama wanted to “steal” and boycott the Olympic Games.

The Dalai Lama, who is and always has been a promoter of nonviolence, strongly denied being involved in the Lhasa riots.

The protests of Lhasa were the biggest the region has witnessed over the past 20 years.

Experts believe the meeting is just a public relations exercise made by China in order to host successfully the Olympic Games, which open on August 8.

The Buddhist spiritual leader, who fled Tibet amid a failed uprising in 1959, says he is seeking meaningful autonomy for Tibet rather than independence from Chinese rule.