The Dalai Lama is cancelling his planned visit to South Africa because he does not expect to get a visa, the Tibetan spiritual leader’s office said today.
South Africa had come under pressure from China not to issue a visa to the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing accuses of being a dangerous separatist.
The Dalai Lama's office said today he cancelled the trip for him to attend fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu's 80th birthday celebration this week because South Africa - which has had his application paperwork for weeks - had not issued him a visa on time.
"We are, therefore, now convinced that for whatever reason or reasons, the South African government finds it inconvenient to issue a visa to His Holiness the Dalai Lama," his office said in a statement.
The Dalai Lama, once embraced as a beacon of peace in South Africa when apartheid ended, has become a diplomatic headache for the country as its economic fortunes are increasingly linked to China, which had pushed Pretoria to reject a previous visa application. He was previously refused a visa in 2009.
Dr Tutu said in a statement last week the manner in which the visa application was dealt with was reminiscent of the way authorities dealt with applications by black South Africans for travel under apartheid.
"It would have been much more respectful to have received a negative answer, than no answer at all," said Nomfudo Walaza, chief executive officer of the Desmond Tutu Foundation.
Last week, China agreed to $2.5 billion in investment projects with South Africa during a visit by South African deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe to Beijing.
Agencies