The Presidential Office yesterday indicated that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) would not meet with the Dalai Lama when he visits Taiwan from tomorrow night.
The Presidential Office on Thursday approved the visit of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. The 75-year-old Dalai Lama accepted an invitation from a group of local government officials in southern Taiwan and is scheduled to arrive tomorrow for a six-day visit. He will visit southern Taiwan, which was battered by a typhoon earlier this month, leaving more than 500 people dead.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said yesterday the only memorial or prayer ceremony for Typhoon Morakot victims that Ma is scheduled to attend in coming weeks is the national memorial service on Sept. 7, after the Dalai Lama leaves Taiwan.
“Our understanding is that the Dalai Lama’s visit is to attend religious activities ... We will not arrange [public meetings between the president and the Dalai Lama],” Wang said at the Presidential Office.
Wang had said the government’s decision to authorize the visit was based on religious and humanitarian considerations. Ma rejected a proposed trip by the Dalai Lama last December, saying that the timing for a visit was “inappropriate.”
Former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), on the other hand, may meet the Dalai Lama, Taiwan Solidarity Union Chairman Huang Kun-huei (黃昆輝) said yesterday.
Huang, who served as the Presidential Office secretary-general during Lee’s presidency, said that no arrangements had been made for the two leaders to meet, but Lee and the Dalai Lama had forged a strong friendship during his first visit to Taiwan in 1997.
“I believe the former president would like to meet his old friend, but it will all depend on the Dalai Lama’s itinerary once he arrives,” he said.
The Dalai Lama visited Taiwan in 1997 and 2001.
Beijing on Thursday said it strongly opposed the visit by the Dalai Lama, whom it accuses of seeking independence for his Tibetan homeland. Beijing also slammed the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), saying it had plotted the trip to rattle the recent cross-strait detente and “not for the sake of disaster relief.”
“The DPP’s evil motives will definitely be opposed by compatriots from both sides of the Taiwan Straits [sic],” the statement read.
In Washington, US State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the visit “should not result in increased tensions in the region,” calling the Dalai Lama a “respected religious leader” who “travels regularly.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday the Dalai Lama would enter Taiwan under a special arrangement that does not require a visa or an entry permit, solving the quandary of how the religious leader would come to Taiwan while dodging the sensitive question of his status.
MOFA spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said that after hours of meetings it was decided that the Dalai Lama, who is deemed solely as a religious leader by the Taiwanese government, will enter Taiwan using his Identity Certificate — a travel document issued by the Indian government to Tibetan refugees residing in the country.
“To streamline the process, we will contact the airline company prior to the Dalai Lama boarding the aircraft. Upon touchdown at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, he will be greeted by National Immigration Agency and Bureau of Consular Affairs personnel who will then escort the Dalai Lama to bypass the regular immigration custom procedure,” Chen said.
Chen said the special arrangement was made because of the urgency and significance of the Dalai Lama’s visit to offer comfort and prayers for the Typhoon Morakot victims.
The leader of the Tibetan exiled government will be accompanied by eight people, six of whom will enter Taiwan in the same manner as the Dalai Lama, Chen said, adding that the other two were Republic of China and US passport holders.
Chen said so far no ranking MOFA officials were scheduled to meet with the Dalai Lama.
Meanwhile, the DPP yesterday reiterated that the Dalai Lama’s visit was purely a humanitarian mission to console Morakot victims and urged critics not to politicize the event.
“The DPP’s take on the Dalai Lama is very simple — he is here to offer spiritual nourishment for typhoon victims and to pray for Taiwan. We ask critics and the Chinese Nationalist Party [KMT] to refrain from interpreting his visit using political logic,” DPP Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said.
Tsai shrugged off Beijing’s criticisms and repeated her stance that China and pan-blue politicians, including Ma, should not twist a simple religious visit into political ammunition.
“The Dalai Lama is a world-respected spiritual leader. His high-profile presence in Taiwan will bring much needed comfort to typhoon victims as well as elicit more global attention for Taiwan’s plight,” she said.
Tsai is expected to meet the Dalai Lama at a prayer service next week.
In a telephone interview with the Central News Agency yesterday, Tsegyam, secretary of the Dalai Lama’s office who once served as the Tibetan exile government’s representative to Taipei, said the Dalai Lama hoped to console typhoon victims in southern Taiwan.
The Dalai Lama’s visit is based on the “responsibility and obligation of a Buddhist leader,” Tsegyam said.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY AFP AND CNA
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