Acting on the president’s instructions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has again denied a visa to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who had been invited by an international group to attend its annual regional conference in Taipei next month, sparking outrage among various organizations in the country.
The Dalai Lama “is welcome to travel to Taiwan in due course. However, we need to arrange a more opportune time for his visit,” Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said in a letter, dated Friday last week, to Freda Miriklis, international president of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW International), the non-governmental organization behind the event.
In the letter, of which the Taipei Times obtained a copy, Lin said he was writing “on behalf of President Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)],” as Miriklis’ letters to Ma on Aug. 28 and Sept. 10 were forwarded to his ministry for reply.
Photo: AFP
According to BPW Taiwan, one of the 95 affiliates of BPW International, Miriklis requested that the president issue the Dalai Lama a visa because the organization had invited him to deliver a keynote speech at this year’s BPW Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Taipei from Dec. 1 to Dec. 3.
Miriklis did not hear from the president on the matter until she received the letter from Lin, said BPW Taiwan, which is headed by former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).
The story came to light when the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported about it yesterday, prompting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers to demand an explanation from Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Ko (柯森耀) on why the Ma administration rejected the visa request.
Facing a barrage of questions from DPP legislators Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) and Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), Ko did not offer a reason, saying: “It’s not an opportune moment.”
At one point, Ko requested help from Joseph Ma (馬鍾麟), executive-general of the ministry’s NGO Affairs Committee, to answer the lawmakers’ questions.
Aside from saying that the decision not to issue the Dalai Lama a visa was made out of concern about “the nation’s overall interests,” Joseph Ma, who said his committee was assigned to deal with the case, offered no more explanation.
It is not the first time the Ma administration has barred the Dalai Lama from visiting Taiwan.
During a briefing with the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club on Dec. 3, 2008, President Ma said that while Taiwan generally welcomes religious leaders from all over the world, “I think at the current moment, the timing isn’t appropriate.”
“When will it be a proper time for the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan? The timing was not right in 2009 [sic] and the timing is not right now. Do we have to wait until the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is out of power? Is Taiwan still a country that values democracy, human rights and freedom?” Tsai asked.
The Dalai Lama was able to visit Taiwan, at the invitation of seven DPP mayors and commissioners, one month after Typhoon Morakot devastated southern parts of the country in August 2009, killing about 700 people and causing widespread damage.
Ma called an emergency meeting at the National Security Council to deliberate the case. The meeting lasted five hours before he approved the visit.
Chiu asked Ko to name the government officials who were involved in the decision, how they had assessed the case and why they considered the timing inappropriate for a visit by the Dalai Lama.
“I really can’t answer your questions here,” Ko said, adding that the ministry had made the decision pursuant to its authority.
The decision drew an angry response from various groups.
Taiwan Friends of Tibet president Chow Mei-li (周美里) panned the Ma administration for rejecting the visa.
“It’s obvious that the government refuses to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama because of the China factor,” Chow said by telephone. “It’s ridiculous that the government is already bending over even before China says anything — he [Ma] has lost direction.”
Chow said she could not imagine any other democratic nation would refuse the visit of a Nobel Prize laureate.
“Maybe what the minister of foreign affairs said was right: It is not the right time for the Dalai Lama to visit now; it would be a better time for His Holiness to visit after Ma steps down,” Chow said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a symposium in Taipei, US-based Chinese dissident and writer Wilson Chen (陳破空) also weighed in, saying the refusal was self-belittling and would harm the democratic values cherished by all Taiwanese.
“It is a great pity that Taiwan, which claims that it is a sovereign country, refused the Dalai Lama’s entry over fear of offending Beijing,” he said.
BPW Taiwan said the move reflected fear of angering China, which sees the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader as a separatist.
“We are angry as the government is obviously worried about China’s reaction. It’s ridiculous that Taiwan has to listen to China and seek its approval before doing anything,” a spokeswoman for Lu said.
The ministry denied China had anything to do with the decision.
“It’s just not a good time,” ministry spokesman Steve Hsia (夏季昌) said, declining to elaborate.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin, Chris Wang and AFP
People can preregister to receive their NT$10,000 (US$325) cash distributed from the central government on Nov. 5 after President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday signed the Special Budget for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience, the Executive Yuan told a news conference last night. The special budget, passed by the Legislative Yuan on Friday last week with a cash handout budget of NT$236 billion, was officially submitted to the Executive Yuan and the Presidential Office yesterday afternoon. People can register through the official Web site at https://10000.gov.tw to have the funds deposited into their bank accounts, withdraw the funds at automated teller
PEACE AND STABILITY: Maintaining the cross-strait ‘status quo’ has long been the government’s position, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan is committed to maintaining the cross-strait “status quo” and seeks no escalation of tensions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, rebutting a Time magazine opinion piece that described President William Lai (賴清德) as a “reckless leader.” The article, titled “The US Must Beware of Taiwan’s Reckless Leader,” was written by Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at the Washington-based Defense Priorities think tank. Goldstein wrote that Taiwan is “the world’s most dangerous flashpoint” amid ongoing conflicts in the Middle East and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. He said that the situation in the Taiwan Strait has become less stable
CONCESSION: A Shin Kong official said that the firm was ‘willing to contribute’ to the nation, as the move would enable Nvidia Crop to build its headquarters in Taiwan Shin Kong Life Insurance Co (新光人壽) yesterday said it would relinquish land-use rights, or known as surface rights, for two plots in Taipei’s Beitou District (北投), paving the way for Nvidia Corp to expand its office footprint in Taiwan. The insurer said it made the decision “in the interest of the nation’s greater good” and would not seek compensation from taxpayers for potential future losses, calling the move a gesture to resolve a months-long impasse among the insurer, the Taipei City Government and the US chip giant. “The decision was made on the condition that the Taipei City Government reimburses the related
FRESH LOOK: A committee would gather expert and public input on the themes and visual motifs that would appear on the notes, the central bank governor said The central bank has launched a comprehensive redesign of New Taiwan dollar banknotes to enhance anti-counterfeiting measures, improve accessibility and align the bills with global sustainability standards, Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) told a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday. The overhaul would affect all five denominations — NT$100, NT$200, NT$500, NT$1,000 and NT$2,000 notes — but not coins, Yang said. It would be the first major update to the banknotes in 24 years, as the current series, introduced in 2001, has remained in circulation amid rapid advances in printing technology and security standards. “Updating the notes is essential to safeguard the integrity
RSS