Published by: World Tibet Network News, Tuesday, May 28 1996

Source: Central News Agency, Taipei, in English 1448 gmt 24 May 96

Text of report by the Taiwanese news agency CNA

Taipei, 24th May: Yang Jen-huang, chairman of the Mongolian and Tibetan Affairs Commission, said on Friday [24th May] that the ROC welcomes a visit to Taiwan by Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, but that no plan has been set in motion so far.

The Hong Kong-based newspaper `Southeast Morning Post'[as received] reported on Friday [24th May] that the Dalai Lama has made it known to Taiwan authorities that he is more than willing to visit the island after its first democratically [as received] presidential election.

In response to reporters' inquiry, Yang said that the Dalai Lama sent a letter of congratulations to President Li Teng-hui in late March, but did not take advantage of that occasion to express his desire to visit the island.

In a statement showing the government's reluctance to become embroiled in a dispute between Beijing and Tibet, he said that his commission has neither known anything about the Dalai Lama's plan to visit, nor made any contact with his aides about such a trip.

Yang said that there should be no doubt that the ROC welcomes a visit by the Dalai Lama as a Tibetan spiritual leader, which may run counter to his wish to be here as a political leader.

Since 1993, the Dalai Lama has contacted Taiwan authorities through various channels with the purpose of visiting the island, but his wish was never realized for a variety of reasons.