Lama has no time for Chen
Tibetan leader listens to Chinese comrades
Yesterday, Tibet's spiritual leader abandoned plans to attend Taiwan's presidential inauguration ceremony scheduled for May 20. Tibetan government officials in exile say the lama will be occupied with other matters during this time. But everyone understands that he simply does not want to tease Beijing.

According to Taiwanese press reports, the list of guests for the inauguration has not yet been finalized. It is known that they will include leaders of 26 states that have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, such as Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador or the Czech Republic. According to some reports, Chen Shui-bian personally promised Tibetan Buddhists living in Taiwan to invite the Dalai Lama, who is considered the spiritual leader of the Tibetan emigration. In early April, reports appeared that the Dalai Lama accepted the invitation.
This angered Beijing. “The Dalai Lama has long been involved in activities aimed at dividing his homeland. The political goals of his visit to Taiwan are completely obvious,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi. And he warned that China will not allow any actions aimed at splitting the country.
Official representatives of Taiwan's victorious Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) immediately responded to Beijing's threats: "We will, of course, take China's position into account, but we will not exclude anyone from the invitation list just for fear of displeasing Beijing." And yesterday a message came from Hong Kong that the Dalai Lama had canceled his visit to Taiwan.
Press representative of the Dalai Lama's administration in the Indian city of Dharamasula Thuptem Samphel explained this decision of the Tibetan leader by saying that "at this time he will be busy with other matters."
The Dalai Lama visited Taiwan only once, in 1997, prompting accusations from Beijing that he intended to “break Taiwan and Tibet away from China.” The PRC authorities then offered the Dalai Lama to negotiate the fate of Tibet, but only on the condition that the Dalai Lama promised not to visit Taiwan again and recognize it as part of the PRC. The Dalai Lama responded that he could not take upon himself the responsibility of single-handedly determining the future of the Taiwanese people. Beijing's political pressure on the Tibetan leader increased so much that in 1998 he was forced to cancel his second visit to Taiwan, during which he intended to discuss issues of joint activities of Buddhists in Tibet and Taiwan.
Commenting on the Dalai Lama’s as yet unconfirmed refusal to come to Chen Shui-bian’s inauguration, the Moscow office of the Taipei-Moscow Economic Cooperation Commission told a Kommersant correspondent: “We understand the Dalai Lama’s decision - he must think about the possible negative consequences of the visit. But he may well attend Taiwan even after his inauguration. In Taiwan he is respected and always welcome."
ANDREY Kommersant-IVANOV

Newspaper "Kommersant" No. 60 dated 04/07/2000, p. 10