Published by World Tibet Network News - Tuesday, March 25, 1997

TAIPEI, March 25 (AFP) - The Taiwan government reacted cautiously Tuesday to the Dalai Lama's proposal to open an office on the nationalist island to facilitate bilateral, cultural and religious exchanges.

"It would be one thing if such an office was purely meant to spread the Tibetan sects of Buddhism ... it would be another thing if it was to represent the Tibetan government in exile," Foreign Minister John Chang said.

The Tibetan god-king, who fled to India following an abortive anti-Chinese uprising in 1959, had recommended at a Taipei press conference the opening of a "small office" in Taiwan for the promotion of religious exchanges.

The Dalai Lama's unprecedented trip to Taiwan sparked controversy on Tuesday in the Taiwan parliament as to whether the Cabinet-level Tibetan and Mongolian Affairs Commission should be closed.

Legislator Chen Chi-mai of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) proposed to shut down the government agency on the grounds that the nationalist government no longer effectively ruled Tibet and Mongolia.

The nationalist government fled China after its forces were defeated by the Chinese communist troops in the civil war which ended in 1949.

The suggestion was killed after parliamentarians from the ruling Kuomintang and the rightwing New Party stood firm for fear of further exacerbating ties with China.

China, which regards Taiwan as a rebel province, has fired a salvo at the Dalai Lama's visit.

"The Dalai Lama says on one side that he does not want independence but on the other side he continues his separatist threats," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Cui Tiankai said Tuesday.

Both the nationalist and communist Chinese governments want the reunification of China but on different terms.

The Dalai Lama flew to Taiwan last Saturday and is to depart Thursday.