World Tibet Network News Monday, April 06, 1998

South China Morning Post

5 April 1998

>From AGENCIES in Tokyo

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama started a nine-day visit to Japan yesterday despite Chinese pressure to have him barred.

But his entourage said the Japanese authorities had extracted promises that Tibetan political questions would not be raised on his seventh visit to Japan.

He will attend an international conference on Buddhism in the ancient capital of Kyoto, which will include representatives from 13 Asian nations.

The Dalai Lama was greeted at Tokyo's Narita Airport by supporters after arriving on a flight from India.

The tour has been carefully organised by the Dalai Lama's entourage and Japanese authorities to reduce any chance of embarrassing the Government.

The Dalai Lama travelled to Kyoto yesterday and will return to Tokyo on Thursday for religious instruction and meetings until April 11.

His representative office in Tokyo said the latest visit was "to satisfy a growing interest in Japan in the fundamental teachings of the Buddha".

It added that "the visit of His Holiness the Dalai Lama is purely religious and non-political".

Spokesman Karma Gelek Yuthok said: "It has always been the wish of His Holiness not to cause any embarrassment to the host governments of his visits."

The Dalai Lama had rejected all press requests for interviews but would address the press in Kyoto and Tokyo, the spokesman said.

He was not scheduled to meet any government officials during his stay, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

On Thursday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called on Japan to "honour its commitment not to allow the Dalai Lama to go to Japan so as not to provide him a venue for his splittist activities".

But a Japanese Foreign Ministry counterpart responded by saying: "We don't know what kind of commitment they are talking about."

The ministry said there was no question of cancelling his visa.