WELLINGTON: The New Zealand Prime Minister, John Key, assured the Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao, that no ministers would meet the Dalai Lama, despite a pre-election commitment to meet the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, leaked cables between Wellington and Washington show.
The cables from the United States embassy in Wellington reveal that in April last year, Mr Key told Mr Wen that neither he nor his cabinet would meet the Dalai Lama when he visited New Zealand last December, the Herald on Sunday reported.
That was despite a pre-election commitment to the chairman of Friends of Tibet, Thuten Kesang, that he would meet the Dalai Lama, and despite the Foreign Affairs Minister, Murray McCully, telling Parliament there was no boycott.
However, a cable quoted a Ministry of Foreign Affairs diplomat, Grahame Morton, as saying: “PM Key had earlier conversed with Premier Wen Jiabao concerning the Dalai Lama’s December 4 to 7 visit to Auckland, saying that neither he nor any of his ministers would meet with the Dalai Lama.
“Morton said the Chinese ‘obviously registered’ this. Morton added that the PM … made this decision without any consultation, but others in the government are still obliged to respect it.”
The Labour leader, Phil Goff, said the cable “demonstrates the Key government has not been honest with New Zealanders”.
