MONGOLIA: China criticised Mongolia yesterday for playing host to Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing brands a separatist.
Thousands flocked to the capital, Ulan Bator, to welcome the Nobel Prize-winning Tibetan leader-in-exile to Mongolia, where Buddhism has seen a revival since the landlocked country shrugged off Soviet shackles in 1991.
But the Chinese government accused the exiled Dalai Lama of having a political agenda. "The Chinese government strongly opposes . . . any country providing the Dalai Lama with a venue for his separatist activities," the foreign ministry said in a statement yesterday.
"The Dalai Lama is not a simple or pure religious figure. He is a political exile who undertakes secessionist activities abroad and damages the unity of nationalities."
Mongolia's foreign ministry stressed that the visit was sponsored by the Gandantegchenlin monastery and not the government. "The Dalai Lama visited Mongolia several times before, through religious channels. He did not attempt . . . any political activities or actions in the past. Therefore, the ministry of foreign affairs regards this visit as being similar to previous ones," the ministry said.
Before Monday, the Dalai Lama had visited Mongolia five times since the early 1990s, most recently in 2002.
The Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, has said he is only seeking limited autonomy for Tibet. But China, which invaded the Himalayan region in 1950, routinely refers to him as a "splittist" or separatist.
The office of the president of Mongolia said on Tuesday that a meeting between Mongolian president Nambaryn Enkhbayar and the Dalai Lama was possible.