The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama recently visited Taiwan to pray for the victims of Typhoon Morakot. In the face of constant pressure from Beijing and international media coverage of the visit, the Dalai Lama, in his profound wisdom and benevolence, turned the visit into a display of passive resistance and peace in the spirit of Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi.
The Buddhist leader’s visit to Taiwan was not a big matter. As a US Department of State official said, Washington did not believe it would “result in increased tension in the region.” But Beijing did all it could to add fuel to the flames and even enlisted the help of Taiwanese gangsters in China to organize protests against the spiritual leader in Taiwan, while Taiwan’s pro-China media outlets became mouthpieces of the Chinese government. In doing so, they sacrificed their credibility and lost more than they gained.
During his visit, the Dalai Lama remained composed while being interviewed by media outlets and said he was not disappointed about not meeting President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九).
In response to speculation that the spiritual leader’s visit would have an adverse impact on cross-strait relations, Ma said it was premature to jump to that conclusion.
Some critics said the visit was a result of political scheming, but the Dalai Lama said he was here purely on a religious mission, although some “specialists” in Taiwan tried to second-guess his motives. He also suggested that the protesters could visit China to promote democracy. There is no doubt that all these were directed at Ma and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤).
Every place the Dalai Lama visited, people could feel the warmth he brought. When typhoon survivors from Siaolin Village (小林) in Kaohsiung County, which was washed away by floods, told him their family members were buried under mud and rubble, he immediately spread a waterproof mat on the ground and began a ritual of blessing. Such behavior moved the hearts of numerous disaster victims.
When he heard someone crying out loud: “Someone has cancer. She needs your help” as he walked out of the venue for a ritual, he performed a forehead-to-forehead blessing service and gave the patient medication. This scene is in stark contrast to the hypocrisy of politicians and their empty words.
In 1959, dictator Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) recognized the temporary government of the Dalai Lama as the legitimate Tibetan government in accordance with Article 120 of the Constitution and said the Republic of China would continue to work to achieve the goal of self-determination together with the Tibetan people.
Whether Tibet should be separated from China is mentioned in both Taiwan’s and China’s constitutions. As such, if Taiwan were to cooperate with Beijing and take a harsher approach toward the matter, it would not reflect well on Taiwan.
The Dalai Lama’s nephew, Khedroob Thondup, once said: “This is not communist Taiwan; it’s democratic Taiwan.” The question is, can Taiwan hold up to its democratic ideals.
Lu I-ming is the former publisher and president of Taiwan Shin Sheng Daily News.
TRANSLATED BY TED YANG
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
On Monday, a group of bipartisan US senators arrived in Taiwan to support the nation’s special defense bill to counter Chinese threats. At the same time, Beijing announced that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had invited Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) to visit China, a move to make the KMT a pawn in its proxy warfare against Taiwan and the US. Since her inauguration as KMT chair last year, Cheng, widely seen as a pro-China figure, has made no secret of her desire to interact with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and meet with Xi, naming it a
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The trip was announced by Xinhua news agency on Monday last week, which cited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) as saying that Cheng has repeatedly expressed willingness to visit China, and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and Xi have extended an invitation. Although some people have been speculating about a potential Xi-Cheng
No state has ever formally recognized the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) as a legal entity. The reason is not a lack of legitimacy — the CTA is a functioning exile government with democratic elections and institutions — but the iron grip of realpolitik. To recognize the CTA would be to challenge the People’s Republic of China’s territorial claims, a step no government has been willing to take given Beijing’s economic leverage and geopolitical weight. Under international law, recognition of governments-in-exile has precedent — from the Polish government during World War II to Kuwait’s exile government in 1990 — but such recognition
RSS