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Greet the Dalai Lama with dignity

The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama will soon be arriving in Taiwan on a much-awaited second visit to the nation -- an event which, it is hoped, will turn, once again, into a spiritual festival of sorts. But unlike his last visit in 1997, the Taiwanese government should make sure that this time they accord him a welcome worthy of the recognized apostle of peace that he is.

During his last visit, the KMT government made him travel on a document issued by the Taiwan government and had him enter, in a terrible mix of bad taste and poor judgment, through a backdoor of Kaohsiung International Airport, for fear of provoking Beijing.

But the Dalai Lama this time, thanks to the DPP government's consent, will be travelling on his Tibetan refugee passport and not on the document issued by the Ministry of Interior that he used during his last trip (reportedly much to the dismay of the Tibetan government in exile.)

The timing of his visit is particularly opportune as it comes on the heels of the anniversary of last year's earthquake which has inevitably made this part of the year a period of somber introspection for the nation. Although the details of the trip are yet to be finalized, the Dalai Lama's office in Taipei has confirmed that the Tibetan leader will soon be embarking on a purely religious trip to Taiwan.

Importantly, the visit to Taiwan will surely send a direct message to his admirers on the other side of the Strait that their government is solely responsible for denying them the religious freedom that their counterparts in Taiwan are celebrating so happily with, of all people, the Tibetans. What could be a more effective means of educating the mainland populace on the virtues of liberal democracy in Taiwan?

Any observer of both Taiwan and China will find it difficult not to notice, in the words of Robert Thurman, the US' leading authority on Tibetan Buddhism, a volcanic eruption of interest and goodwill towards the Tibetan people on the part of the Chinese people, on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

In every respect, this enthusiasm for the Tibetan value system is growing. The Dalai Lama's books have become bestsellers in Taiwan, albeit belatedly as they need to be translated first into Mandarin. Recently, Nita Ing (殷琦), a businesswomen and consultant to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), reportedly e-mailed all of her staff the classic final chapter of the Dalai Lama's fascinating New York Times bestseller The Ethics for the New Millennium, which later appeared verbatim in the business monthly Commonwealth, Taiwan's answer to Fortune magazine.

Reflecting such grassroot concerns for Tibet, a group of Taiwanese journalists even traveled to Tibet last week to report on the developments there. And needless to say, an overriding purpose behind the Dalai Lama's trip to Taiwan is to underscore his concern and goodwill towards the Han Chinese public, including those in China, where interest for things Tibetan is also fast growing. The Dalai Lama has often reiterated that nothing would stop him from extending his compassion towards the Chinese people, despite the fact that he has become the most visible target of their government's venom.

Such boundless compassion is attuned to the age of the Internet and globalization when international borders are fast disappearing and nationalism increasingly is regarded as a sophisticated form of tribalism.

Although it is difficult to link China's Tibet policy and Taiwan-China relations, it is high time that the Taiwanese government increased its focus on Tibetan affairs just as it tries to bolster its international stature by extending help to its distant but unimpressive list of allies.

This growing Taiwan-Tibet relationship is most evident in capital cities abroad. In the past, Tibetans and Taiwanese demonstrated overseas against visiting Chinese dignitaries separately, but now the two groups often join forces to become, for good reason, a collective source of irritation for those dignitaries.

Indeed, many organizations have argued that the Tibetan leader's visit merits celebration on the part of his followers in Taiwan, many of whom often travel to the US and India to hear his teachings.

However, many critics, most prominently maverick writer-turned-politician Lee Ao (李敖) and other aging nationalists, have sided with the Beijing government by painting his visit as political and not mentioning his efforts towards global peace over the past four decades.

The Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan should help Taiwan's reputation as it will boost the nation's own stature as a peacemaker; and the international media coverage on the Dalai Lama's visit to the nation will inevitably place Taiwan in the radar screens of international channels.

This time, however, if the officials are to live up to their reputation as sensible statesmen, they must grant the Tibetan leader and his entourage a more fitting reception. (Asking the Dalai Lama to land in southern Taiwan is like asking the Pope, or any other major religious figure, to land in southern Taiwan on their first visit to the nation.)

What makes the Dalai Lama unworthy of a reception at the main international airport?

When China pillories the Tibetan leader, then it is business as usual. But when Taiwan lacks the courage to invite a celebrated Nobel Peace Prize laureate through its own front door, well, then it is definitely time for soul searching.

Tsering Namgyal covers Asian business and finance issues from Taipei.
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