Acting on the president’s instructions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has again denied a visa to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who had been invited by an international group to attend its annual regional conference in Taipei next month, sparking outrage among various organizations in the country.
The Dalai Lama “is welcome to travel to Taiwan in due course. However, we need to arrange a more opportune time for his visit,” Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) said in a letter, dated Friday last week, to Freda Miriklis, international president of the International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW International), the non-governmental organization behind the event.
In the letter, of which the Taipei Times obtained a copy, Lin said he was writing “on behalf of President Ma [Ying-jeou (馬英九)],” as Miriklis’ letters to Ma on Aug. 28 and Sept. 10 were forwarded to his ministry for reply.
Photo: AFP
According to BPW Taiwan, one of the 95 affiliates of BPW International, Miriklis requested that the president issue the Dalai Lama a visa because the organization had invited him to deliver a keynote speech at this year’s BPW Asia-Pacific Regional Conference in Taipei from Dec. 1 to Dec. 3.
Miriklis did not hear from the president on the matter until she received the letter from Lin, said BPW Taiwan, which is headed by former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮).
The story came to light when the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported about it yesterday, prompting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers to demand an explanation from Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Ko (柯森耀) on why the Ma administration rejected the visa request.
Facing a barrage of questions from DPP legislators Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) and Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), Ko did not offer a reason, saying: “It’s not an opportune moment.”
At one point, Ko requested help from Joseph Ma (馬鍾麟), executive-general of the ministry’s NGO Affairs Committee, to answer the lawmakers’ questions.
Aside from saying that the decision not to issue the Dalai Lama a visa was made out of concern about “the nation’s overall interests,” Joseph Ma, who said his committee was assigned to deal with the case, offered no more explanation.
It is not the first time the Ma administration has barred the Dalai Lama from visiting Taiwan.
During a briefing with the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club on Dec. 3, 2008, President Ma said that while Taiwan generally welcomes religious leaders from all over the world, “I think at the current moment, the timing isn’t appropriate.”
“When will it be a proper time for the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan? The timing was not right in 2009 [sic] and the timing is not right now. Do we have to wait until the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is out of power? Is Taiwan still a country that values democracy, human rights and freedom?” Tsai asked.
The Dalai Lama was able to visit Taiwan, at the invitation of seven DPP mayors and commissioners, one month after Typhoon Morakot devastated southern parts of the country in August 2009, killing about 700 people and causing widespread damage.
Ma called an emergency meeting at the National Security Council to deliberate the case. The meeting lasted five hours before he approved the visit.
Chiu asked Ko to name the government officials who were involved in the decision, how they had assessed the case and why they considered the timing inappropriate for a visit by the Dalai Lama.
“I really can’t answer your questions here,” Ko said, adding that the ministry had made the decision pursuant to its authority.
The decision drew an angry response from various groups.
Taiwan Friends of Tibet president Chow Mei-li (周美里) panned the Ma administration for rejecting the visa.
“It’s obvious that the government refuses to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama because of the China factor,” Chow said by telephone. “It’s ridiculous that the government is already bending over even before China says anything — he [Ma] has lost direction.”
Chow said she could not imagine any other democratic nation would refuse the visit of a Nobel Prize laureate.
“Maybe what the minister of foreign affairs said was right: It is not the right time for the Dalai Lama to visit now; it would be a better time for His Holiness to visit after Ma steps down,” Chow said.
Speaking on the sidelines of a symposium in Taipei, US-based Chinese dissident and writer Wilson Chen (陳破空) also weighed in, saying the refusal was self-belittling and would harm the democratic values cherished by all Taiwanese.
“It is a great pity that Taiwan, which claims that it is a sovereign country, refused the Dalai Lama’s entry over fear of offending Beijing,” he said.
BPW Taiwan said the move reflected fear of angering China, which sees the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader as a separatist.
“We are angry as the government is obviously worried about China’s reaction. It’s ridiculous that Taiwan has to listen to China and seek its approval before doing anything,” a spokeswoman for Lu said.
The ministry denied China had anything to do with the decision.
“It’s just not a good time,” ministry spokesman Steve Hsia (夏季昌) said, declining to elaborate.
Additional reporting by Loa Iok-sin, Chris Wang and AFP
Taiwan is gearing up to celebrate the New Year at events across the country, headlined by the annual countdown and Taipei 101 fireworks display at midnight. Many of the events are to be livesteamed online. See below for lineups and links: Taipei Taipei’s New Year’s Party 2026 is to begin at 7pm and run until 1am, with the theme “Sailing to the Future.” South Korean girl group KARA is headlining the concert at Taipei City Hall Plaza, with additional performances by Amber An (安心亞), Nick Chou (周湯豪), hip-hop trio Nine One One (玖壹壹), Bii (畢書盡), girl group Genblue (幻藍小熊) and more. The festivities are to
Auckland rang in 2026 with a downtown fireworks display launched from New Zealand’s tallest structure, Sky Tower, making it the first major city to greet the new year at a celebration dampened by rain, while crowds in Taipei braved the elements to watch Taipei 101’s display. South Pacific countries are the first to bid farewell to 2025. Clocks struck midnight in Auckland, with a population of 1.7 million, 18 hours before the famous ball was to drop in New York’s Times Square. The five-minute display involved 3,500 fireworks launched from the 240m Sky Tower. Smaller community events were canceled across New Zealand’s
‘IRRESPONSIBLE’: Beijing’s constant disruption of the ‘status quo’ in the Taiwan Strait has damaged peace, stability and security in the Indo-Pacific region, MOFA said The Presidential Office yesterday condemned China’s launch of another military drill around Taiwan, saying such actions are a “unilateral provocation” that destabilizes regional peace and stability. China should immediately stop the irresponsible and provocative actions, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said, after the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) yesterday announced the start of a new round of joint exercises around Taiwan by the army, navy and air force, which it said were approaching “from different directions.” Code-named “Justice Mission 2025,” the exercises would be conducted in the Taiwan Strait and in areas north, southwest, southeast and east of Taiwan
UNDER WAY: The contract for advanced sensor systems would be fulfilled in Florida, and is expected to be completed by June 2031, the Pentagon said Lockheed Martin has been given a contract involving foreign military sales to Taiwan to meet what Washington calls “an urgent operational need” of Taiwan’s air force, the Pentagon said on Wednesday. The contract has a ceiling value of US$328.5 million, with US$157.3 million in foreign military sales funds obligated at the time of award, the Pentagon said in a statement. “This contract provides for the procurement and delivery of 55 Infrared Search and Track Legion Enhanced Sensor Pods, processors, pod containers and processor containers required to meet the urgent operational need of the Taiwan air force,” it said. The contract’s work would be
RSS