Hu Jintao, China’s president, said he hoped the opening round of new talks with representatives of the Dalai Lama, held amid tight security at a state guesthouse in southern China on Sunday, would “yield a positive outcome.”

The talks were held in Shenzhen, the economic centre bordering Hong Kong, a location far from Beijing, the capital, in an apparent effort to minimise their domestic profile and possibly also downplay their importance.