China keeps up attacks on Dalai Lama

A buddhist nun called China's comments about the Dalai Lama as "an insult to Buddhism"

In this story: 'Separating the motherland' 'Spiritual mission' RELATED STORIES

By staff and wire reports

BEIJING, China -- China has fired new verbal shots against the Dalai Lama renewing accusations that the exiled Tibetan leader was collaborating with pro-independence forces on Taiwan. A commentary by the official Xinhua news agency Sunday said the Dalai Lama's tour was "a political visit" driven by separatist motives he shares with officials in Taipei.

The report came shortly before the Dalai Lama appeared alongside Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu at a gathering in Taipei where they issued a joint call for peace and understanding from Beijing.

Vice President Lu, whom China has branded "scum of the nation" for describing Taiwan and China as "close neighbors but distant relatives," thanked the exiled spiritual leader for braving China's disapproval and showing concern for Taiwan.

"Tibetan compatriots have faced all kinds of oppression from the Chinese Communist Party, but he still has the heart and compassion to come to Taiwan, because he knows we have many difficulties as well," she said ahead of an inter-faith prayer meeting attended by the Dalai Lama.

IN-DEPTH Dalai Lama: A spiritual leader in exile

The Dalai Lama is on a 10-day tour of the island, which Beijing considers a breakaway province.

He insists the visit is a spiritual journey, but a series of stinging editorials in mainland media have said that his planned meetings with members of Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government showed he had a clear political agenda.

'Separating the motherland'

The Dalai Lama says he is on a spiritual mission to Taiwan

"The Dalai's second Taiwan trip will certainly be a political visit … collaborating with Taiwan independence forces to separate the motherland," Xinhua said in its Sunday commentary.

Pointing to the planned meetings the agency asked: "how could Dalai's trip be a pure 'religious tour'?"

On Saturday the Dalai Lama called on China to send a representative to the island to "watch my movements and investigate whether I'm involved in anti-Chinese activities" as Beijing claims.

But thousands of Taiwan residents ignored China's criticism of the Dalai Lama and turned up to hear him speak on spirituality and human values on Sunday.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner addressed the crowd from a five-tier stage decorated with a long tapestry of Buddha.

He told his listeners that real happiness came from a satisfaction "in the heart," and not from physical comfort.

One nun called the state media's condemnation of the Nobel Peace Prize winner "an insult to Buddhism."

'Spiritual mission'

The Nobel Peace Prize winner has described his visit to the island, which Beijing regards as a renegade province, as a spiritual mission.

However, planned meetings with President Chen Shui Bian and former President Lee Teng Hui have led Beijing to accuse the Dalai Lama of dabbling in politics and seeking to build an alliance with Taiwan to push for independence from the mainland.

This visit has been fiercely criticized by China's state-run media, who say the trip is evidence that independence forces in Tibet and Taiwan are ganging up against China.

The Dalai Lama has tried to play down the political significance of his visit, but Taipei-based Andrew Yang of the Chinese Council of Advanced Policy Studies says the meeting of Taiwan pro-independence leaders "is bound to have some political implications".

"Although the Dalai Lama has reiterated it is a religious visit, it does show that he is in close ties with the incumbent Taiwan government which China dislikes," he said.

CNN.com senior China analyst Willy Lam says Beijing views the Dalai Lama's visit as further proof of the existence of a global anti-China conspiracy between the pro-independence movements in Taiwan and Tibet, the Falun Gong, and so-called anti-China elements in the United States.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

A tale of two Tibets
Taiwan silent on expected meetings with Dalai Lama
Exiled Tibetans sustain culture from afar
Dalai Lama visit tests Taiwan-China relations
China raps Dalai Lama's Taiwan trip
A tale of two Tibets
Taiwan silent on expected meetings with Dalai Lama
Exiled Tibetans sustain culture from afar

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