Published by World Tibet Network News - Tuesday, January 21, 1997NEW DELHI, Jan 21 (AFP) - The Dalai Lama will not visit Taiwan unless it stops regarding Tibet as a part of China, the spiritual leader's bureau said Tuesday.
"Unless this problem is resolved, a visit will not be possible," bureau spokesman Jampel Chasang told AFP.
A Taiwanese Buddhist group has invited the Dalai Lama for 10 days in March. The Tibetan leader has never been to Taiwan, where Chinese nationalists fled after their defeat by the communists in a civil war in 1949.
Chasang said there has been no change in the Dalai Lama's perception of Taiwan.
"If Taiwan gives in writing that they will change their opinion (about the status of Tibet), then the Dalai Lama may visit," Chasang said.
The Dalai Lama, who fled his homeland in 1959 after a failed anti-Chinese uprising, runs a government-in-exile based in the Indian hill town of Dharamsala. It is not recognised by any country.
