Taipei, August 31: The Dalai Lama arrived in Taiwan Sunday on a controversial visit to bless typhoon victims – despite China’s protesting that the visit was aimed at “splitting the motherland”.
Smiling and waving, the Dalai Lama arrived at Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei from New Delhi on a China Airlines flight.
He was due to travel by high-speed train for the two-hour ride to the southern city of Kaohsiung for Monday’s scheduled visit to the disaster areas and victims.
In order to avoid any political implications or embarrassment to the Taiwan government, the Tibetan spiritual leader cancelled an international news conference planned for Monday morning.
“His Holiness decided to cancel tomorrow morning’s news conference so that he can spend more time visiting typhoon victims,” Tsegyam Ngaba, secretary general to the Dalai Lama’s Office, told reporters.
“The Dalai Lama said the purpose of his trip is to visit typhoon victims. The news conference is not important and he doesn’t have much to say to reporters anyway,” he added.
Reporters from some 130 local and foreign news organisations had signed up to cover the Dalai Lama’s news conference that was to be held at a hotel in Kaohsiung.
The cancellation came a few hours after parliament Speaker Wang Jin-pyng suggested to Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, who invited the Dalai Lama, to cancel the news conference to avoid politicising his visit.
Wang said reporters were bound to ask sensitive questions. “Since this is defined as a religious visit, we should keep it that way and prevent things from getting out of control,” he said.
Seven southern Taiwan counties and cities, the hardest-hit when Typhoon Morakot slammed southern Taiwan killing nearly 700 people, invited the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan to bless typhoon survivors.
During his four-day trip, the Dalai Lama will hold two prayer meetings for typhoon victims – one in Kaohsiung and one in Panchiao, in northern Taiwan – before returning to India Friday morning.
President Ma Ying-jeou will not meet the Dalai Lama, the president’s office said. The visit comes at a sensitive moment as Ma tries to improve Taipei-Beijing ties.
China protested the Dalai Lama’s visit, saying Beijing is absolutely opposed to it because he is a politician seeking to “split the motherland”.
The 74-year-old Dalai Lama has been living in exile in Dharamasala, northern India, since an abortive uprising against Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959.
In 1989, the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize for seeking autonomy for Tibet through peaceful means. He visited Taiwan in 1997 and 2001 to meet Taiwanese disciples, numbering about 500,000.
—Agencies