President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has given the Dalai Lama permission to visit Taiwan to comfort the victims of Typhoon Morakot.
The government’s decision to allow the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to visit came after Ma rejected a similar request last December, a move that at the time was widely interpreted as a nod in the direction of Beijing and part of Ma’s strategy to improve cross-strait relations. Ma could afford to do so at the time because he enjoyed strong support in opinion polls.