A Tibetan representative in Taipei said yesterday it was unlikely the Dalai Lama would come to Taiwan for President-elect Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) presidential inauguration in May.
Atisha Tenzin Phuntsok, the managing director of the Taipei office for the Tibet Religious Foundation of his Holiness the Dalai Lama, said he had not been able to confirm reports yesterday about the possible visit.
Still, he suggested the Tibetan spiritual leader's busy schedule around that time would not permit a stop in Taiwan.
"It's my personal view that his schedule is full and he won't be able to come [for the inauguration] since he will be in Europe during that time."
On Tuesday, an Agence France-Presse report from New Delhi quoted his holiness in the southern city of Bangalore as saying he wanted to attend the May 20 swearing in ceremony for Chen and his vice president-elect, Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).
"I want to see [the inauguration] of the new leader," the report cited the Dalai Lama as saying.
During his last visit to Taiwan in 1997, Beijing reacted with fierce attacks on the Tibetan leader.
They accused him of making further attempts to "split the motherland."
The Dalai Lama is to arrive in Japan tomorrow and stay until April 20, on an ostensibly religious visit at the invitation of a Buddhist college.
The visit is expected to unleash an equally vitriolic reaction from China, which already warned Tokyo in February that such a visit would adversely affect bilateral relations.
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