The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) yesterday denied allegations by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the media that its request for details of any government money spent on the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan by local governments was politically motivated.
“As the government authority in charge of religious affairs, we received a request from the Control Yuan to see if government money was spent by the seven local governments that invited the Dalai Lama to cover his expenses,” Civil Affairs Department Director Huang Li-hsin (黃麗馨) told the Taipei Times by telephone yesterday. “The Control Yuan made the request because they received a public petition asking if government money was spent to cover the expenses of the Dalai Lama’s visit and whether this was in violation of the separation of religion and state clause in the Constitution.”
Last month, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan County, Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties and Tainan and Kaohsiung cities jointly issued an invitation to the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, asking him to visit Taiwan to hold religious services for those who lost their lives and to comfort the victims of Typhoon Morakot.
Upon receiving the request from the Control Yuan, the MOI sent inquiries to the local governments on Tuesday, a move that riled DPP lawmakers — such as Tainan City’s William Lai (賴清德) and Kaohsiung City’s Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) — who questioned whether it was a retaliatory measure because China had voiced opposition to the visit.
Huang denied the allegation and said both the Control Yuan’s request and the ministry’s inquiries to local governments were part of standard procedure when handling a public petition. Huang said there was no political motive behind it.
So far, Kaohsiung and Tainan counties have replied and said the expenses were covered by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the de facto representative office of the Tibetan government in exile in Taiwan.
“The Dalai Lama wouldn’t even let me pay for his lunch when we stopped for a lunch break in Jiasian Township (甲仙)” after visiting the disaster-torn Siaolin Village (小林), Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興) said.
“Not a cent of the expenses for the Dalai Lama’s visit came out of the Kaohsiung City treasury,” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) said.
Sonam Dorjee, secretary-general of the Tibetan representative office, confirmed that the office had covered the monk’s expenses.
Huang said she did not think it would have been a problem if the local governments had covered the expenses.
“Separation of religion and state as stipulated in the Constitution means that the government is responsible of protecting everyone’s freedom of religion and should refrain from interfering in religion,” Huang said. “Government agencies sponsor religious events on a regular basis, so I don’t see a problem with it.”
That explanation, however, did not convince Taiwan Friends of Tibet chairwoman Chow Mei-li (周美里), who believes the probe should not have started in the first place.
“As the government authority in charge of religious affairs, the MOI should have told the Control Yuan there was no problem, instead of sending inquiries to the local governments,” Chow said.
Chow said she would file similar petitions to question the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission’s sponsoring of a Tibetan Buddhist service to commemorate the typhoon victims at the end of last month and whether President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) had violated the separation of religion and state by taking part in several religious services for typhoon victims.
DEATH THREAT: A MAC official said that it has urged Beijing to avoid creating barriers that would impede exchanges across the Strait, but it continues to do so People should avoid unnecessary travel to China after Beijing issued 22 guidelines allowing its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death “Taiwan independence separatists,” the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday as it raised its travel alert for China, including Hong Kong and Macau, to “orange.” The guidelines published last week “severely threaten the personal safety of Taiwanese traveling to China, Hong Kong and Macau,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a news conference in Taipei. “Following a comprehensive assessment, the government considers it necessary to elevate the travel alert to orange from yellow,” Liang said. Beijing has
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
SOLUTIONS NEEDED: Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers due to population decline, the minister of economic affairs said in Washington President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration is considering a plan to import labor to deal with an impending shortage of engineers and other highly skilled workers, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said in Washington on Tuesday. Kuo was leading a delegation attending the SelectUSA Investment Summit. Taiwan must attract about 400,000 to 500,000 skilled foreign workers for high-end manufacturing jobs by 2040, he said. Ministry of Economic Affairs officials are still calculating the precise number of workers that are needed, as it works on loosening immigration restrictions and creating incentives, Kuo said. Taiwanese firms operating factories in the US and other countries would