China Slams Taiwan's Invite to Dalai Lama

(CBS/AP)  China said Thursday that it "resolutely opposes" a decision by Taiwan's president to allow the Dalai Lama to visit the island.

A spokesman for the State Council's Taiwan Affairs Office said a visit by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, "in whatever form and capacity," would be condemned by China, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The spokesman, who was not named, said the invitation was "an attempt to sabotage the hard-earned good situation in cross-Strait relations."

Taiwan's president risked angering China with his surprise announcement Thursday that he has agreed to let the Dalai Lama visit the island to comfort survivors of a devastating typhoon.

President Ma Ying-jeou's move was unexpected because he has made a priority of seeking better relations with China, and just last December nixed plans for a visit by the Buddhist spiritual leader in what was deemed a move to placate Beijing.

But Ma's government has come under fire over its slow response to Typhoon Morakot, which claimed 670 lives when it hit Aug. 8-9, and opposition politicians in the storm zone pointedly invited the Tibetan spiritual leader to the island to console survivors.

See pictures of the aftermath of Typhoon Morakot

The invitation put Ma into a bind - either risk angering China, or give further ammunition to the opposition, which accuses him of hewing Beijing's line. On Thursday, Ma gave his answer while visiting a school in Nantou County that was destroyed in mudslides triggered by the storm.

"The Dalai Lama could come to Taiwan to help rest the souls of the dead and also pray for the well-being of the survivors," he said.

The invitation from the leaders - all from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party - came as Ma faced criticism that he had botched the government's response to the storm, the worst typhoon to hit the island in 50 years.

The Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman in Beijing called the invitation "a plot" by Taiwanese opposition members, Xinhua reported.

"When people from all sectors on the mainland are lending a hand to help Taiwan reconstruct and overcome the typhoon disaster quickly, some DPP members have taken the chance to plot the Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan," the spokesman was quoted as saying. "Obviously this is not for the sake of disaster relief."

China has long vilified the Dalai Lama for what it says are his attempts to fight for independence in Tibet, which has been under Communist rule for decades.

Beijing considers the Dalai Lama a "splittist" for promoting autonomy in the Chinese region of Tibet, and opposes visits to foreign countries that raise his profile. Allowing him to visit Taiwan could undermine the rapidly improving relations between Beijing and Taipei, longtime rivals which are developing close business ties after decades of enmity.

China claims self-governing Taiwan as part of its territory, though they split amid civil war in 1949.

On Wednesday, leaders of seven municipalities hit by Morakot issued a joint statement inviting the Dalai Lama to visit storm victims from Aug. 31 to Sept. 4. The invitation from the leaders - all from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party - came as Ma faced criticism that he botched the government's response to the island's deadliest storm in 50 years.

The Dalai Lama - who has made three visits to the island over the past 12 years - has accepted the invitation "in principle," his spokesman Tenzin Takhla said Wednesday from Dharmsala, India, home to the Tibetan government-in-exile.

Since becoming president 15 months ago, Ma has reversed many of his predecessor's anti-China policies, tightening economic links across the 100-mile-wide Taiwan Strait and even speaking of a peace treaty with Beijing.

Presidential spokesman Wang Yu-chi said the Dalai Lama's upcoming visit would be strictly religious, with no political overtones.

"We welcome the Dalai Lama to come to Taiwan to take part in mass prayers," Wang told reporters. He said the visit was approved "for humanitarian and religious considerations ... and we believe it will not harm cross-Strait relations."

Wang declined to say if Ma would meet the Dalai Lama during his stay in Taiwan.

Ma's policy of seeking better relations with China contrasts sharply with the opposition DPP's strong support for formal independence for the island of 23 million people.

That stance infuriates Beijing, which has repeatedly warned that any move to make the Taiwan-China split permanent would lead to war.

Taiwan and Tibet share similar histories. Both are territories that Beijing believes should be under its rule. Despite a failed 1959 uprising that sent the Dalai Lama into exile, China controls Tibet and has refused the Tibetan religious leader's request for greater autonomy.

[hmmIwonder]

True Buddhism holds no boundary, should never be political or racist. True religion teaches true love - harmony, selflessness, and sincerity to all. Dalai Lama is a bit calculating, self-promoting, and conflicting...

[burneb]

Actually, Taiwan has indigenous people, apparently of Austroneasian descent, prior to an influx of Han Chinese.

China's bullying of Uyghers, Tibetans, Hong Kong residents, Falun Gong, etc. should certainly give Taiwanese caution before giving up any degree of sovereignty to such a ruthless one-party power-mad Gang Of Thugs.

If the Chinese government wants Taiwan to be an integral part of China, they should strive to make that an attractive proposition, so that it would be the will of the governed. So far they have imitated the old Soviet bad-neighbor policy. Notice that NONE of Russia's neighbors, or even any of the former SSRs wanted to remain with Russia.

[TheMasses2002]

ms_spam would say the people who got hit by the typhoon were not with God and that was HIS way of "cleaning them out."

[naj1953]

Reigion is the problem...Everyone has been fighting about it since the beginning of time..So who is right??? I think no one has been living the way God planned..I believe in God, but I don't believe that people get it. No religion is right, they have lied only for greed. I get sick of these so called devout people thinking they are living by the bible. Every religion has changed something thinking they are right. I believe God will show everyone at the end how pagan they really have been.

[straightalk]

You are absolutely right. People use religion to gain trust from others. Most of the wars of this world started from religious differences.

[dimonds2000]

Communist will ALWAYS hate religion - sounds very familiar here in the US too.

[jerry_boberry]

Familiar in the US? What sense does that make? Were you even remotely paying attention during the last eight years? Our awe inspiring leader had a direct line to the skies. He said so himself. Although I'll give your commie statement some cred.

[thesevenveils]

Diamonds your statement is very false. There are more different religions freely practiced in the US than anywhere else in the world. Even religions that are disagreeable by a large majority of the population are freely and openly practiced in the US, without fear of bodily harm. Heck, the US even accepts religious sects with known hatred of the US government practice their religion in peace.

Maybe you have too much hate in your heart to see that.

[billaknz]

China today has no more right to involve itself in the affairs of Taiwan than any other country. The communist dictatorship is only in power (and stays in power) through the barrel of a gun and the ongoing brutal suppression of any one who has a different point of view. This harks back to the days of Hilter, Stalin and Mao. Human rights protesters where are you?

[straightalk]

Taiwan has been a part of China for HUNDREDS of years. The current government & people in Taiwan are all of Chinese decent.

As far as right to involve itself in the affairs of other countries, USA is the BIGGEST offender. You involved yourself in so many other countries affairs that we cannot count anymore. Your CIA is now under probe for gross human rights abuses. USA has commited so many war crimes that your press were not even allowed to report them. (News from Iraq & Afgan are all filtered by your military in case you don't know) So look at yourself before your start criticize others.

[thesevenveils]

China is the first to defend its terroristic ways of controlling it's population by saying a country's internal matters are not to be judged by foreign governments. Yet it sure seems to do a lot of bullying and threatening when a foreign country's internal affairs includes a visit by the Dali Lama.

Why is the Dali Lama threatening to China? Because the Chinese bully government know they are wrong and the Dali Lama presence reminds the world how wrong they are.

Free China from is repressive government!
Free Tibet from China's illegal occupation!