The Dalai Lama’s chief envoy said on Wednesday that China hurt its own bid for deeper ties with Africa by pressuring South Africa to bar the Tibetan spiritual leader.
South Africa refused to grant the Dalai Lama a visa to join a conference on Friday in Johannesburg with fellow Nobel laureates from around the world, leading organisers to cancel the event.
Lodi Gyari, the Dalai Lama’s chief negotiator with China, said that Beijing’s pressure on South Africa did not befit ”a nation that wants to be a global power” and be a ”friend” to Africa.
”South Africa, which all of us can look to as an example and a kind of beacon of light in that continent, today is put to shame. By who? By Beijing, with total disregard to South Africa’s dignity and prestige,” he said.
Gyari, speaking at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank, said that the Dalai Lama himself felt sorry for indirectly causing the event’s disruption.
”The one who is wronged is the one who says, ‘Oh, I feel so sorry,”’ Gyari said.
South Africa has denied bowing to Chinese pressure, saying it was only postponing the Dalai Lama’s visit so as not to distract from preparations for next year’s Soccer World Cup.
China has been stepping up a global offensive to isolate the Dalai Lama, who fled to India 50 years ago this month as Beijing crushed an uprising in Tibet.
Last year, China called off a major economic summit with European leaders after French President Nicolas Sarkozy, then head of the EU, met with the Dalai Lama in Poland.
Warren Smith, a US expert on Tibet, recently told a US Congress panel that China was stepping up pressure because it felt successful in bringing foreign leaders to the Beijing Olympics.
Last year’s games came five months after Beijing clamped down on protests in Tibet. Tibet’s government-in-exile says more than 200 people died.
‘Unfortunate’
Meanwhile, Health Minister Barbara Hogan has raised the ire of the government for criticising the decision to bar the Dalai Lama.
Government spokesperson Themba Maseko said on Wednesday that Hogan’s comments were ”rather unfortunate”.
The decision had been made by the government, of which Hogan was a member, and she was wrong to have criticised it on a public platform, he told a media briefing.
”The comments of the minister of health were rather unfortunate in the sense that this position on the Dalai Lama is an official position of this government.
”It is unfortunate that the minister chose to go to a public platform to attack a decision of government when she, in fact, is a member of that collective.
”So I think that is something that will have to be addressed in the near future by this government,” said Maseko.
”How do ministers conduct themselves in instances where they do not agree with the position of government?
”Secondly, the way government functions is that it’s not for a minister to go to a public platform and openly attack and disagree with a government position.
”So it’s something that’s going to have to be dealt with at some stage,” Maseko said. – Sapa, AFP