Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was to jet into Canada yesterday, on a visit which has drawn his hosts into an unwanted spat with major trade partner China.
Beijing reacted furiously after Canada's new Prime Minister Paul Martin emerged from a prolonged personal meditation and decided he would meet the 1989 Nobel peace prize winner.
Martin's protests that he is meeting the man revered as a living God by followers in a "spiritual" -- and not "political" -- context have failed to wash with China, which claims the Dalai Lama is a separatist.
Beijing has even compared the case of Tibet, which it has occupied since 1951, to Canada's past efforts to cling on to the francophone province of Quebec.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan (孔泉) on Thursday took aim at Martin over his plans to meet Tibet's spiritual leader.
"We think the Canadian government should not provide a stage and place of activity for a politician such as the Dalai Lama, who is engaged in activities to split the motherland," Kong said.
The Dalai Lama arrives in the western city of Vancouver from California on Saturday and is expected to hold a press conference and host a number of spiritual events.
Some 30,000 people are expected to attend his five speeches and events here, a significant rise on his last visit to the city in 1993, when only 3,000 people showed up.
He may been revered as an icon of peace by followers, but the Dalai Lama has already caused a stir in this laid-back western Canadian city.
A fist-fight broke out in February, when the one devotee found that tickets for one event with the Dalai Lama had already sold out.
The Dalai Lama, no stranger to the jet set world of an international traveler, will head east to the capital, Ottawa, after four days in Vancouver.
He will wrap up his trip with several political events in Canada's largest city, Toronto, before leaving the country on May 5.
The run-up to his arrival has been dogged by Canada's row with China over whether he would get to meet Martin, who agonized for days over the talks.
The Prime Minister's office said Thursday, in a bid to limit political fallout with Beijing, that the encounter would take place in a "spiritual" context in the residence of Ottawa's Roman Catholic archbishop.
"The prime minister is meeting the Dalai Lama as a highly respected spiritual leader and recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize," the statement from Martin's office said.
Beijing's angry campaign against Martin's planned meeting with the Dalai Lama has led some observers to speculate that Canada's vital trade ties with China may suffer as a result.
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