Tibetan official: Norway is not secretly brokering a deal between China and the Dalai Lama

The Tibetan government-in-exile on Thursday denied a newspaper report that Norway has been secretly brokering talks between the Dalai Lama and China.

The Verdens Gang reported Wednesday that diplomatic efforts have gone on for several years and that Norwegian foreign ministers have kept U.S. officials informed about the meetings. It cited unnamed sources in Washington.

It did not say if there had been direct meetings between the Tibetan spiritual leader and Chinese officials, or when the peace efforts began.

"The Norwegian government is helping the Tibetans in many ways for the last many years, including providing development aid in the Tibetan settlements in India, but there is no secret diplomacy or mediating in the dialogue or negotiations between the PRC (People's Republic of China) and the envoys of His Holiness the Dalai Lama," said Thumpten Samphel, a spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile.

"This needs to be denied in its totality," Samphel told The Associated Press

Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Tor-Henrik Andersen declined to comment on the newspaper report.

"It has been a precondition, especially from the Chinese government, that these (meetings) had to be strictly confidential," the Verdens Gang said. The meetings took place in Norway and elsewhere, and high-ranking Norwegian Foreign Ministry officials also attended, it reported.

China has governed Tibet since communist troops marched into the Himalayan region in the 1950s. The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet amid a failed uprising in 1959, says he wants more autonomy for the region, but the Chinese government labels him a "splittist" intent on seizing independence.

Early last month representatives of the Dalai Lama met Chinese officials for the first time since 2006. The talks, which yielded no concrete results, were prompted by a resurgence of violence in Tibetan areas of western China.

Despite China's vilification of the Dalai Lama, both sides have kept back channels for dialogue open.

Norway is known for helping in conflicts and organizing secret meetings between disputing parties.

In 1993, it secretly brokered the now-frayed Oslo peace agreement between Israel and Palestinians, and in 2002 it helped negotiate a truce in Sri Lanka between the government and secessionist Tamil Tiger rebels. That peace deal collapsed earlier this year. Three years ago Norway was instrumental in securing a peace accord in Sudan, but that truce has failed to stem violence in the restive Dafur region.