The former Foreign Secretary David Miliband stated on 30 October 2008 that The Sino-Tibetans talks are the “only forum in which there is any realistic possibility of progress to resolve the differences between the parties involved.” 

The eighth round of the Sino-Tibetan Dialogue took place in the beginning of November 2008. In that round, envoys of the Dalai Lama delivered a detailed memorandum, setting out the Tibetan case for autonomy. The memorandum had been specifically requested by China at the previous May 2008 round.

On 11 November 2008 the Chinese government announced that it will never accept calls by the Dalai Lama for greater autonomy in Tibet.

Zhu Weiquin, a senior member of the Chinese negotiation team said that China will "never allow ethnic splitting in the name of genuine autonomy".

The comments, broadcast live on state television, by such a senior figure from the Chinese negotiation team effectively closed the door on further talks with the Dalai Lama’s envoys.

China’s emphatic rejection of any form of Tibetan autonomy represents a major embarrassment for the British government and its diplomacy in connection with the Sino-Tibetan talks.

In January 2010 the ninth round of dialogue took place.Followig the meeting, Zhu Weiqun said that there was no possibility of the “slightest compromise” on the issue of sovereignty in Tibet and that the two sides were still “sharply divided".

Read the Tibetan Government's memorandum on Full Autonomy