DALAI LAMA TO SEND OFFICIALS TO SET UP FOUNDATION IN TAIWANDALAI LAMA TO SEND OFFICIALS TO SET UP FOUNDATION IN TAIWAN
Taipei, Oct. 18 (CNA) Gyado Thondup, brother of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, said on Saturday that the Secretariat of the Dalai Lama will send officials to Taiwan in mid-November to establish a Buddhist foundation.
Thondup said that the non-profit foundation will help strengthen religious and cultural exchanges between the people of Taiwan and Tibet.
The Dalai Lama's roving ambassador, who led a Tibetan delegation which attended the ROC's National Day celebrations on Oct. 10, made the remarks at press conference sponsored by the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission.
The foundation's inauguration comes after months of coordination between the Buddhist Association here and the Dalai Lama's London Office, he said, adding that it was first initiated by the Dalai Lama after his visit to Taiwan on March 22-27 this year, when he decided that religious and cultural exchanges between Tibet and Taiwan should be enhanced.
Thondup said that those who will come to Taiwan to help establish the foundation will include one official from the London office of the Tibetan government-in-exile and another from the Dalai Lama's Secretariat who is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Kao Koong-lian, chairman of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, said the commission will try to provide medical assistance for Tibetans in India who contract tuberculosis, a common complaint among those who flee from the high-altitude Tibetan plateau to the lowland Indian plains because of repression and persecution by mainland China.
Kao also said the commission will help Tibetan students who wish to come to Taiwan to study and receive vocational training. It will also study ways to invite Tibetan Buddhist monks to come here to preach, as well as conducting vocational training programs for Tibetans in India to help them find jobs there. (By Lilian Wu)
This page is prepared by CICC
