Dalai Lama plays down Taiwan visit, says spiritual

The Dalai Lama has tried to open talks with China on the future of Tibet

DHARMSHALA, India -- Tibet's exiled spritual leader, the Dalai Lama has said he will be going to Taiwan on a 10-day visit for spiritual reasons.

He made the announcement about the purpose of his trip in an apparent move to smooth Chinese concerns over the trip to a region that Beijing considers a rebel province.

China had criticised the Tibetan spiritual leader for visiting the island in 1997, accusing him of promoting separatism there.

The Dalai Lama said China had no cause to be concerned about his 10-day visit, which is due to begin on Friday.

"My main goal is to meet the Buddhist community there and explain about Tibetan Buddhism," the Nobel Peace Prize laureate told reporters in the Himalayan foothills town of Dharamshala, the seat of his government-in-exile.

Taiwan's state-run Central News Agency said earlier this month that the Dalai Lama was slated to meet Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian and former president Lee Teng-hui.

The Dalai Lama, who has lived in Dharamshala with thousands of his followers since a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, dismissed suggestions that his trip might upset Beijing.

"If they know the reality and look at my activities from a wider perspective then I don't see any reason for them to be concerned," he said.

Accusations of repression

But he renewed recent accusations that China was stepping up repression in his homeland, even as he reassured them of the reason for his travel to Taiwan.

"The Chinese government is carrying out more ruthless policies inside Tibet. I think they believe through that they can solve this problem," he said.

Last October, the Dalai Lama had said he might postpone his planned visit to Taiwan, because he had sought to open talks with China about the future of Tibet.

But he said on Wednesday that China was not interested in receiving a Tibetan exile delegation.

"For the moment the Chinese government is not willing to talk," he said.

The spiritual leader said he wanted to "promote close ties" between Tibetans and the Chinese and was willing to go to China.

"But that's not possible as of now so I am going to Taiwan where I will meet the Taiwanese people of Buddhist following."

In recent years he has softened demands for impoverished Tibet's independence from China, saying it has much to gain from being part of China, provided the government gave it a meaningful right to preserve its culture, religious freedom and a "high degree of autonomy."

Reuters contributed to this report.

The Dalai Lama
a spiritual leader in exile

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