In 1997, then-president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) took the bold initiative to invite the Dalai Lama to Taiwan as a state guest for the first time in history.
His foresight allowed Taiwanese to be exposed to the Tibetan leader, who has earned respect as a great Buddhist teacher.
Lee’s passing is a true loss for Tibetans, as he was a strong supporter.
Prior to the 1997 visit, much dialogue had taken place.
Our delegation would not have anything to do with the then-Mongolian Tibetan Affairs Commission (MTAC), which was a sticking point in Tibet-Taiwan relations, and we had discussed the closure of this office, as it had become irrelevant.
In due course, the commission’s role was diminished and later merged with the Ministry of Culture.
Scores of Tibetans who had entered Taiwan on different passports were offered residency.
His Holiness was allowed entry not only as a religious but also as a political leader.
One direct result of the visit was the setting up of the official Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Taipei.
A few days before His Holiness’ visit to Taiwan, I was asked what I thought of the visit. I said that it was a historic visit, as His Holiness would be visiting a Taiwanese territory. If the visit was to be successful, it would be the springboard to visiting China.
The visit was extremely well received by both the government and the people of Taiwan. It left a changed view with us that Taiwan was not part of China, but instead a separate entity.
In our dialogue with Beijing, they insisted that His Holiness recognize Taiwan as part of China. This was a precondition that Beijing said would lead to future talks.
After visiting Taiwan, seeing the vibrant democracy and making many friends, His Holiness found it difficult to declare that Taiwan was part of China.
In 2001, then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) invited His Holiness for a second visit and started the Taiwan Tibet Exchange Foundation to deal directly with the Tibetan government-in-exile.
In 2009, then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) allowed His Holiness to visit as a religious leader.
Recently, His Holiness has expressed the desire to again visit Taiwan as a religious leader, as he has a large following in Taiwan and thousands of Taiwanese visit Dharamsala, India, every year.
Even though Taiwan has in the past 10 years made statements that it would welcome a visit, His Holiness has not been able to visit, as recent Taiwan governments have been sensitive to China’s hardline position and not been able to hold as independent a view as earlier presidents.
Taiwan has more to gain by allowing His Holiness to visit as a religious leader.
Khedroob Thondup is a former member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the
Delegation-level visits between the two countries have become an integral part of transformed relations between India and the US. Therefore, the visit by a bipartisan group of seven US lawmakers, led by US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul to India from June 16 to Thursday last week would have largely gone unnoticed in India and abroad. However, the US delegation’s four-day visit to India assumed huge importance this time, because of the meeting between the US lawmakers and the Dalai Lama. This in turn brings us to the focal question: How and to what extent