Premier Wen Jiabao is expected to address thorny political issues, including Tibet’s spiritual leader-in-exile the Dalai Lama, during an official trip to South Asia to boost trade ties next week, the government said Friday.
Wen was scheduled to visit Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and India including tsunami-struck areas in the region’s south from April 5-12.
“I think he will touch upon (the Dalai Lama) question with Indian leaders,” said China’s Vice Foreign Minister Wu Dawei at a media briefing about Wen’s trip.
The Dalai Lama has headed a government-in-exile in the mountain town of Dharmsala in India since he fled Tibet in 1959 after an aborted uprising against Chinese rule in the territory. China denounces the Dalai Lama as a “splittist” _ accusing him of trying to split China by seeking independence for Tibet.
“We have asked that the Indian government prevent the Dalai Lama and his followers from using Indian territory for anti-China or splittist activities,” said Wu. “The Indian government has agreed to do so. What we hope now is that the Indian government will live up to its word.”
Wu said the Dalai Lama “has long been engaged in activities which oppose the Chinese government and seek to split the country.”
China and India also have yet to hammer out a long-standing border dispute but Wu said it was “not a very sensitive” topic between the two sides.
“The differences between the two countries concerning the border are very large and the question is very hard to settle,” Wu said. “It does not keep us from engaging in cooperation in other fields.”
Wen will also visit an information technology center in Bangalore and give a speech in New Delhi, Wu said.
“Last year the trade between China and South Asian countries was US$20 billion (€15 billion) and there is a good momentum for further rapid growth,” Wu said.
Some US$14 billion (€11 billion) of that was trade between China and India, according to an article Friday in the official People’s Daily newspaper.
