'Separatist' Dalai Lama on Taiwan tour

Updated August 31, 2009 21:15:05

Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has begun a visit to Taiwan despite criticism from China, which sees the him as a 'separatist'. Some Taiwanese residents have also complained, saying they don't want his politics - only his food and shelter. And, officially, he is there to comfort the survivors of Typhoon Morakot after some of the worst floods in 50 years killed hundreds of people. But the ruling - and more China-friendly - KMT party have made it clear that they won't be meeting the Dalai Lama on this trip.

Presenter: Zulfikar Abbany
Speakers: Dr Joseph Wu, political scientist, Institute of International Relations, Taipei

WU: The people who are calling the Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan inappropriate are belonging to one group, and that group are those KMT members who think that cross strait relations are probably more important than anything else, including Taiwan's relations with other countries, including the United States and Japan, and also Taiwan's relations with those countries who are fighting for their own survival. And Dalai Lama has been a very good friend of Taiwan and he has visited Taiwan a couple of times before and he was able to meet with former president Lee Teng-hui and former president Chen Shui-bian when they were in power. And the visit has always been very successful before, and his visit to Taiwan can definitely provide some comfort to the victims of Typhoon Morakot.

ABBANY: But it's very difficult for the Dalai Lama to be non-political, in a sense, I mean, even if he doesn't make a political statement the very essence of him has become a political being, hasn't it, so perhaps there is some concern for some residents even?

WU: Well, no matter where Dalai Lama visits it is always causing some problems and that problem has always been caused by China's opposition. I still remember when I was posted in Washington D.C., Dalai Lama was welcomed to the congress and president Bush gave him a congressional gold medal, and that also caused China's sharp criticism, and even though that can be seen as non-political because the United States was recognising Dalai Lama's accomplishments for the Tibetan people, but because of China's opposition the event has become political. And it has been the same and if not for China's opposition Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan shouldn't carry that much weight of political significance, after all Dalai Lama's revision has so many followers in Taiwan.

ABBANY: Now, you mentioned the KMT just a moment ago, that's the Kuomintang, and of course that is the party of the president, Ma Ying-jeou. Now he agreed to this trip, this visit by the Dalai Lama and he's under pressure himself because of criticism about how the government responded to Typhoon Morakot. What are the pressures that he could be facing, are they realistic in your point of view, I mean could this really affect relations between Taiwan and China?

WU: I don't think the visit by Dalai Lama to Taiwan is going to affect Taiwan's relations with China to a significant degree.

ABBANY: But they have made it clear that they're not going to meet the Dalai Lama?

WU: Right. The tough leaders of the KMT are not going to meet with the Dalai Lama, even though China's opposition to Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan may cause some temporary concern among those people who care about Taiwan's relations with China, but I don't think that those kinds of impact will be long lasting. And you were talking about president Ma Ying-jeou's pressure - if you see his response to the disaster in the southern part of Taiwan he is under a lot of public opinion pressure already and he also rejected assistance from the United States and Japan, and that caused an uproar among Taiwan public. And if he continues to cave in to the pressure from China, for instance, turn down the visit by Dalai Lama, he's going to face a whole lot more pressure. And I think this is something that he has to do to allow Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan.

ABBANY: So, just briefly if we could turn this around, forget about effects on the relationship between Taiwan and China, what about the effects for Ma Ying-jeou?

WU: Well, I think Ma Ying-jeou is facing a dilemma right now. He's under a tremendous amount of public pressure right now and therefore, allowing Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan on the one hand, and prohibiting the top leaders of the KMT to see Dalai Lama, might be a compromise Ma Ying-jeou has to make. But no matter what he does he's already on the losing side.