China Protests at Dalai-Lama visit to Portugal

The People’s Republic of China has issued a formal complaint at the visit of the Dalai-Lama to Portugal, although this visit is private.

The Dalai-Lama will be in Portugal from November 24th to 29th on a private visit, which means that he will not have contact with Portuguese government officials. Nevertheless, a formal complaint was handed to the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the Chinese authorities, which declared that China is “firmly against this visit”.

The PR China claims that the Dalai-Lama’s visits are never private because his presence brings up the issue of the sovereignty of Tibet. “He pretends to be a simple Buddhist monk but what he does is to propagate the independence of Tibet”.

The Dalai-Lama himself, the Nobel peace Prize-winner in 1998, has declared that he would be happy with real autonomy and not independence.

The Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied to the Chinese authorities with the following statement: “The Dalai-Lama will not be in Portugal on an official visit and consequently, this visit will not involve any political capacity, since the invitation was issued by a non-government entity”.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru