Australian PM Denies He Is Avoiding The Dalai Lama
(AFP | Sydney | May 17, 2002)
Prime Minister John Howard denied Friday that he is avoiding meeting the Dalai Lama during his upcoming Australian visit because of concern for China's sensitivities. Tibet's exiled spiritual leader arrives in Melbourne on Saturday night to begin a nine-day visit during which he is scheduled to make numerous public appearances. But he will not meet senior politicians including Prime Minister John Howard, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, or even Opposition Labor leader Simon Crean.
Melbourne's Lord Mayor John So is also accused of having snubbed the spiritual leader, deciding not to host an official welcome.
China has appealed to Australian officials to avoid meeting the Dalai Lama during his stay, but Howard said this was not the reason he would not meet him. He said he had met the Dalai Lama last time he visited Australia and if he had been concerned about China's attitude he would not have then.
Howard said he would be travelling to Dili for the East Timor independence celebration and then visiting China to try to win support for the sale of Australian liquified natural gas.
"So I'll be out of Australia until the end of the week and I won't therefore be meeting him," he told commercial radio here.
"I'm going on to China for a period of two or three days, amongst other things, to push Australia's case for selling LNG to China, a very important contract decision coming up on that soon. "It's going to be very tough because of the competition, particularly on price, from a number of other sources.
"I did meet him when he was here last time and I understand some others will be meeting him but I won't be. I don't precisely know what his travel schedule is but I don't think we'll intersect and I won't be meeting him." He admitted Chinese officials were sensitive about anybody meeting the Dalai Lama. "But if we were governed by that then I wouldn't have met him last time," he added.
Buddhist organisers of the visit say more than 70,000 people are likely to turn out to see the Dalai Lama in Melbourne, Geelong, Sydney and Canberra and an invitation to government leaders to meet the exiled leader still stands.
Australia-Tibet Council campaigner Alex Butler said that since the Dalai Lama's last visit, in 1996, the influence of China in Australia had increased substantially.
"There seems to be a much greater reluctance to be seen to be having anything to do with the Dalai Lama or with Tibet," Butler said. In preparation for the visit, five Tibetan monks in Melbourne have begun creating a sacred sand mandala – a symbol used by Buddhists to aid meditation.
Friends of Tibet (INDIA),
PO Box 16674, Bombay 400050
www.friendsoftibet.org