Published by World Tibet Network News - Sunday, March 23, 1997

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan - Mar 23 (AP) -- The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader preached Buddhism and urged better relations with China on Sunday, drawing crowds wherever he went on his first visit to Taiwan.

About 40,000 followers packed an outdoor stadium to hear the Dalai Lama's two-hour sermon on Buddhist philosophy on the second day of his trip.

Earlier, during a tour of a Buddhist temple, the Dalai Lama told well-wishers he hoped the majority Han ethnic group in China and Tibetans could get along and help each other because a harmonious relationship would do good to both.

China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has governed Tibet with military force since occupying it in 1950, has condemned the visit. Beijing accuses the Dalai Lama and Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui of seeking independence for their respective homelands and trying to break up China.

Crowds of demonstrators for and against his visit prompted tighter security around the Dalai Lama. His limousine was sandwiched in a 20-car motorcade, treatment usually reserved for foreign heads of state.

Taiwan's ruling Nationalists, who fled to the island after the 1949 Communist victory on the mainland, have a residual historical claim over Tibet as part of their broader claim to rule all of China.

But democratization and lowered emphasis on reunification with China have softened their insistence on that claim, allowing the Dalai Lama to visit here as a religious leader.

Most Taiwanese follow a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese folk religion.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet after a 1959 revolt against Chinese rule, but now says he could accept a degree of autonomy for the region short of full independence.