China not happy about Dalai Lama in Taiwan

Surprising no one, China’s pretty nonplussed about the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan, letting it be known yesterday that they “resolutely oppose” it “in whatever form and capacity.” Said a spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, “The Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure… Under the pretext of religion, he has all along been engaged in separatist activities.”

Dalai Lama arrives in Taiwan Monday. AFP Photo

Dalai Lama begins Taiwan visit

The Dalai Lama has arrived in Taiwan on a visit that has been denounced by China as being likely to destabalise improving ties with Taipei.

The Tibetan Buddhist leader landed at Taoyuan International Airport on Monday for what he called a “purely humanitarian” trip aimed at comforting victims of Typhoon Morakot.

He has been exiled from Tibet for more than half a century following China’s invasion of the then-state and labelled a separatist by Beijing, for promoting initially independence and now autonomy for the region.

However, he said that there was no political impetus behind the five-day visit to self-governing Taiwan, which China claims is part of its territory.

“I’m a monk. I was asked to say prayers for peace,” he said at the airport.

“There is no politics. This is humanitarian in nature.”

Chinese objections

The Taiwan government, keen to avoid any cooling of relations with China that have been warming since Ma Ying-jeou became president last year, has taken pains not to anger Beijing over the visit.

Ma has said he will not meet the Nobel peace laureate, who was invited by the opposition Democratic Progressive party (DPP) to pray for those affected by Morakot.

Some local residents were also angered by the Tibetan spiritual leader’s trip

The typhoon struck Taiwan on August 8 and unleashed floods and mudslides, leaving more than 400 people dead.

The Chinese government says the Dalai Lama is a “splittist” fighting for Tibetan independence and it often reacts angrily to governments which allow him to visit.

“No matter under what form or identity Dalai uses to enter Taiwan, we resolutely oppose this,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Bureau said last week.

But it blamed the opposition for using “the disaster rescue excuse to invite Dalai to Taiwan to sabotage the hard-earned positive situation of cross-straits relations”, indicating that it is unlikely to retaliate against Ma’s government.

Local protests

Besides protests from Beijing, the Dalai Lama’s visit has also prompted objections from some local residents, with a group of 30 demonstrators accusing him of using the visit to stage a “political show”.

The protesters, who said they were typhoon victims from the country’s aboriginal community, stood outside the Dalai Lama’s hotel in the southern city of Kaohsiung on Monday, holding up banners that read “we don’t want Dalai politics”.

“The Dalai Lama is only staging a political show here,” a leader of the protesters, told the AFP news agency.

“If the Dalai Lama really wants to help victims and show respect, he should stay in an aboriginal village, not in a big building like this,” he said, pointing towards the hotel.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/08/2009830205219349115.html