China to meet with Dalai Lama aides?

This just in from the AP:

The Chinese government plans to meet with a private representative of the Dalai Lama in the coming days, state-run media reported, after weeks of pressure from world leaders.

The official Xinhua News Agency said it had learned of the development "from official sources." It quoted an unnamed official as saying there had been requests repeatedly made by "the Dalai side for resuming talks."

The BBC said that the Dalai Lama's spokesman had not yet notification of Beijing's desire to start talks. The original source of the news was Xinhua, though all we've seen thus far is this short article which really isn't much on details.

Photo from Gabriel Ortega Berger.