The success of democracies in Taiwan, India and Japan has given the Dalai Lama confidence that democracy is compatible with Asian nations, Tibet’s spiritual leader said yesterday, adding that the regional examples should inspire Tibetans to also implement full democracy.
The Dalai Lama made the remarks in an interview with foreign journalists, including the Central News Agency.
He said he was particularly -impressed by Taiwan’s rule of law, as demonstrated by the jailing of former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), who he referred to as “a good friend of mine,” after Chen was convicted on corruption charges.
The Dalai Lama said he hoped Taiwanese would remain confident and courageous in the face of a rapidly changing world.
He said he also hoped that Taiwan would keep upholding such universal values as democracy, the rule of law and transparency.
On March 10, the Dalai Lama announced his intention to relinquish his political role to a popularly elected leader.
“My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility. It is for the benefit Tibetans in the long run, “ he said at the time.
The Cabinet of the Tibetan -government-in-exile has agreed to honor his decision, but the -parliament-in-exile, which convened on March 14, wanted the Dalai Lama to continue to lead the Tibetan people.
The 75-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate said: “If they [lawmakers] come tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, then I will tell them no. An institution that is the head of both temporal and spiritual; that must end; that is outdated.”
He said he made the decision himself and that he was not under any pressure. The Dalai Lama said that his leadership was as outdated as a monarchy and he insisted that he would abolish the four-century-old tradition that Tibet’s spiritual leader also reigns as the political leader.
“Rule by spiritual leaders — by kings or rajas — is now outdated,” said the Dalai Lama, who has been calling for democratic reform since the 1960s. “I do not want to be like [ousted Egyptian president Hosni] Mubarak.”
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS