Dalai Lama Cancels South Africa Trip

Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled religious leader, announced Tuesday he would cancel his trip to South Africa because the government refused to grant him a visa.

The Dalai Lama’s office in New Delhi said he and his entourage had planned to visit Cape Town in South Africa from Thursday to Oct. 14 for the 80th birthday celebration of a fellow Nobel Peace laureate and anti-apartheid champion, Desmond M. Tutu. 

The office said Dalai Lama has submitted visa applications at the end of August and had submitted their passports two weeks ago. Archbishop Tutu criticized President Jacob Zuma and his African National Congress for “kowtowing to Chinese pressure."

“At least you were expecting it from the apartheid government,” Tutu said in a nationally televised news conference.

The South Africa government has denied Chinese influence on the visa, saying they followed normal procedures in reviewing the visa request.

“The visit of the deputy president has nothing to do with the visa application of the Dalai Lama,” Clayson Monyel, spokesman for the South African Department for International Relations, said. “There is absolutely no pressure from anyone whatsoever.” 

However, criticism on it has coincided with the deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe’s visit to China earlier last week.

Chinese Pressure

President Motlanthe was invited by China’s vise president Xi Jinping on a three-day trip, and he signed agreements last Wednesday for cooperation in geology, mineral resources and financial support, which strengthen the relationship between South Africa and China.

Earlier this year in mid July, Xi Jinping said in a speech he would fight against “separatist activist” linked to the Dalai Lama. Beijing has for years been highly critical of the Dalai Lama, regularly denouncing him as a “splittist” in official media.

So far there was hardly any Chinese media coverage on denial except for a brief note from China’s official news agency saying the vice president Xi Jinping expressed gratitude for South Africa’s “valuable support” on the Tibet issue.

Photo by Jan Michael Ihl.