27 August 2009
Taipei, Taiwan–According to the Associated Press, the Taiwan authority has invited the Dalai Lama to visit the island to comfort the survivors of the severe disaster of typhoon causing 465 deaths and 190 missings for the present.
On Wendnesday, leaders of 7 Taiwanese municipalities hit by Morakot post a joint statement inviting the Dalai Lama to visit the victims from August 31 to 4 september. On day after, President of the island Ma Ying-jeou made the announcement Thursday saying that the Dalai Lama could come to Taiwan “to help rest the souls of the dead and also pray for the well-being of the survivors”.
On the side of the Tibetan government-in-exile, Tenzin Takhla, the spokesman of the Dalai Lama, said the spiritual leader has accepted the invitation “inprinciple”, according to the AP. The Dalai Lama have visited Taiwan three times for the past 12 years.
The invitation from the leaders — all from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, comes in the occation that the president is facing critics for the lack of efficiency of the goverment during the disaster. The media commented that Ma Ying-jeou has to make a choise between “risk angering China, or give further ammunition to the opposition”
The disicion of the Taiwanese president has surprised the media as Ma Ying-jeou has been seeking to improve relationship with China mainland ever since he took the post. The visit of the Tibetan “splittist”, in the view of Beijing, is “resolutely opposed” according to the spokeman of chinese goverment on Tuesday.
By Chen Yu
– Source : the Associated Press
