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Dec 4, 2008

Yeah, looks like I won the Dalai bet

Dalai Lama not welcome to visit: Ma (Taipei Times)

President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said yesterday that the Dalai Lama is not welcome to visit Taiwan.

Ma, attending a presidential briefing held by the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents Club in Taipei, was asked how he would respond to the Tibetan spiritual leader’s Nov. 28 comments to Elta TV in the northern Indian city of Dharamsala that he would like to visit Taiwan next year.

“We generally welcome religious leaders from all over the world to visit Taiwan, but I think at the current moment the timing isn’t appropriate,” he said.

The comments mark a distinct change of attitude for the president, who on March 23 said he welcomed the Tibetan spiritual leader to visit the nation following his inauguration.
Meanhwhile the DPP caucus will raise a bill about welcoming the Dalai, Wang Jin-pyng encourages the government to reconsider from a religious standpoint, the Presidential office says it is putting country first, and blue legislators decry the DPP bill as ideologically motivated.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

wow...ridiculous, but not unexpected as you pointed out.

Unknown said...

And what consequences does that statement of Mr. Ma have?

阿牛 said...

Perhaps none?