Controversial Visit

The government's decision to allow the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan in late August to console victims of typhoon Morakot was bound to raise eyebrows. The move marked a shift in Taipei's stance after having turned him away in 2008 so as not to derail the détente with China. The immediate response from Beijing, which regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist, was predictably critical with a number of low-level meetings symbolically cancelled.

To read the full article, please choose one of the following options: