Published by: World Tibet Network News Monday January 12, 1998

Friday January 9 7:43 PM EST

TAIPEI, Taiwan (Reuters) - They have little in common but their contempt for China's communist system and admiration for Tibet's Dalai Lama, but that was enough to bring Hollywood star Richard Gere together with Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui.

The two chatted Friday about religion, the Dalai Lama's quest for Tibetan autonomy and even Gere's latest movie, "Red Corner" - a cinematic indictment of China's justice system.

Lee expressed incredulity when Gere said "Red Corner" had been banned in the Chinese mainland, according to an account of the meeting by the United Evening News.

"Why would the Chinese communists ban such a movie?" Lee said. "I'd like to see it for myself."

Lee said he hoped also to see another film that has angered Beijing, "Seven Years in Tibet," which depicts the People's Liberation Army slaughtering unarmed Tibetans in the 1950s as Chinese troops moved in to take control of Tibet's capital, Lhasa.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Gere urged Taiwan and other democracies to pressure China to ease its authoritarian grip and protect human rights.

The actor is a disciple of the Dalai Lama's Tibetan Buddhism and a fierce critic of what he calls Beijing's "cultural genocide" in Tibet.

Gere said his Taiwan visit was inspired by the Dalai Lama's March 1997 tour of the Nationalist-ruled island, which Beijing sees, like Tibet, as a Chinese territory that must be unified under the communist government's sovereignty.

Gere was in Taiwan to promote an exhibition of photographs he took in Tibet.

Reuters/Variety