TAIPEI, Jan 5 (AFP) - Taiwanese religious groups, and not the government, are to invite the Dalai Lama here for a visit to avoid political repercussions, the China Times reported Sunday.

Officials from various government units decided in a meeting Saturday that the authorities should not be involved in the invitation to avoid further damaging the island's relations with China, the paper said.

But officials here have said Taiwan welcomed the Dalai Lama as a religious leader to make his first trip to this nationalist island.

It would have be arranged that local Buddhist organizations invite the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, hopefully this year, the paper said.

Taiwan's attempts to invite the Dalai Lama have already drawn attacks from Beijing, which accuses the Dalai Lamai of leading the separatist movement in the Himalayan region.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

China has also considered Taiwan a renegade province since it drove nationalist forces here in 1949 at the end of a civil war.

It has lashed out at countries that accept the Dalai Lama for visits.