Taiwan risks China ire with Dalai Lama visit

Taiwan would welcome a visit by exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, its foreign ministry said yesterday, a trip that would infuriate Beijing which views him as a dangerous separatist. The Dalai Lama has not visited the Chinese-claimed, democratic island under the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen, who first took office in 2016. He last came in 2009. In a birthday message via video link to supporters in Taiwan on Sunday, the Dalai Lama said he would like to visit again. "As the political scenario changes, it may be that I'll be able to visit you in Taiwan again. I hope so. Whatever happens I'll remain with you in spirit," he said on his website. The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. China accuses him of being a "splittist", but he says he only wants genuine autonomy for his remote Himalayan homeland.