Dharamsala, August 30 – His Holiness the Dalai Lama reaffirmed Taiwan’s position that his visit to the island is purely religious, according to AFP.
Before flying to Taiwan on Sunday, His Holiness the Dalai Lama said he has a “moral responsibility” to visit the island that China considers its renegade province after it was struck by Typhoon Morakot killing an estimated 670 people.
“I’m very, very strict, (the trip is of a) non-political nature,” the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader said in footage shown by Taiwan’s TVBS cable news channel.
“They expressed a wish, you see, for my presence… They asked me. It is my moral responsibility to accept to go there,” he said.
China on Thursday denounced Taiwanese president Ma Ying – jeou’s decision to allow the Tibetan leader to visit Taiwan, saying it “resolutely opposes” the proposed visit of the Dalai Lama to Taiwan “in whatever form and capacity.”
“The Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure,” Xinhua quoted a spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office as saying.
Taiwanese president Ma Ying –jeou, who had met the 1989 Nobel laureate as mayor of Taipei in April 2001, said he was approving the Dalai Lama’s visit because it could help ease pain after Typhoon Morakot, according to the AP. But in an apparent move to avoid further antagonizing China, Ma said he would not be meeting the Tibetan leader who has been invited by leaders of 7 municipalities by Typhoon hit areas.
Holiness will be in Taiwan till September 3 during which he will deliver speeches and comfort families and relatives of the victims.
His Holiness’s last two visits to the island in March 1997 and April 2001 were during the rule of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), that longs for complete independence from China as opposed to the ruling Kuomintang government with a more friendly approach towards China.
