TAIPEI, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- More than 10 Taiwanese political organizations Saturday denounced the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP's) invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit the island as "unethical" and "politically motivated."
They also expressed doubts if the visit would benefit ongoing disaster relief in the wake of Typhoon Morakot and voiced their worries the visit would damage relations between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland.
About 100 members from the Alliance for the Reunification of China, the Labor Rights Association, the Labor Party and other organizations staged a protest outside the headquarters of the DPP in Taipei.
Among the placards held by protestors, one read: "Strong opposition to the Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan." Some shouted: "'Taiwan Independence' plus 'Tibet Independence', damaging to cross-Strait peace."
Seven Taiwan mayors and county chiefs from the DPP Wednesday invited the Dalai Lama to visit the island to join religious activities for victims of typhoon Morakot.
However, a joint declaration issued by the protestors said the DPP's invitation of the Dalai Lama had nothing to do with "humanitarian care" for disaster-stricken Taiwanese.
The DPP had only attempted to take advantage of disaster relief activities and the suffering of residents for its own political interest, said the declaration.
The Dalai Lama has all along been engaged in separatist activities, and has been a questionable figure in regard to humanitarian issues, the declaration said. "His visit would undoubtedly cause serious harm to the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations."
Tang Shu, secretary general of the Labor Party, told the crowd that from the very beginning of the typhoon relief in early August, the DPP had been trying to smear the mainland's aid efforts and goodwill.
"Now they are trying to join hands with the 'Tibet Independence' force. Clearly, the DPP's intention is to sabotage hard-earned goodwill in cross-Strait relations," Tang said.
Morakot, the worst typhoon to hit Taiwan in 50 years, has claimed at least 461 lives and left 192 missing and 46 injured, say Taiwan's disaster response authorities.
The protestors urged Taiwanese authorities not to be distracted by the DPP plot and focus instead on reconstruction work.
Mainland's religious head in Taiwan on typhoon relief mission, saying proposed Dalai Lama visit a "political move"
TAIPEI, Aug. 28 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland's religious head arrived in Taiwan Friday noon to participate in Buddhist ritual prayer for typhoon victims, saying the proposed Dalai Lama visit to the island was "politically motivated."
Ye Xiaowen, head of the China Religious Culture Communication Association, was taking up an invitation from Venerable Wei Chueh of Taiwan's Chung Tai Chan Monastery. Full story
Mainland "resolutely opposes" proposed Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan
BEIJING, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese mainland said Thursday it "resolutely opposes" the proposed visit of the Dalai Lama to Taiwan "in whatever form and capacity."
"The Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure," said a spokesman for the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office. Full story
Is Dalai Lama's "gov't-in-exile" secular?
BEIJING, Aug. 19 -- Samdhong Rinpoche's recent remarks that the "Tibetan government-in-exile" is a secular one are ridiculous and fully expose the Dalai Lama clique's attempt to conceal its nature as a politico-religious one.
To avert possible censures, the chief Buddha of the so-called "government-in-exile," defended his stance in an interview with Deutsche Welle, a German international broadcaster on Aug. 12, by arguing that his "government" is independent of religious intervention in its process of administration despite it being a combined spiritual and political rule. Full story
Article exposes ill intention of Dalai Lama's sabotage of ethnic relations
BEIJING, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- A signed article Tuesday accused the Dalai Lama of using ungrounded and self-contradictory argument to comment on and damage the relations between the Han and Tibetan people.
The article's author, Zhang Yun, an expert with the China Tibetology Research Center in Beijing, said the Dalai Lama used his "adept presentation skill and fluent English" to make speeches worldwide, but many of his words relating to the Tibet issue was self-contradictory. Full story
Dalai Lama's "democratic leadership" ridiculous
LHASA, July 5 (Xinhua) -- The Dalai Lama's recent call for Tibetans to "embrace the democratic system of electing a leader" is totally ridiculous, a living Buddha of Tibetan Buddhism said Sunday.
"It is totally against the tradition and convention of the Tibetan Buddhism, where the incarnation of the Dalai Lama should be decided according to a set of fixed procedures," Shingtsa Tenzinchodrak, a living Buddha of the Kagyu sect, told a group of visiting reporters in Lhasa, capital of Tibet autonomous region. Full story
