Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama was expected to arrive last night and visit southern Taiwan to bring comfort to the victims of Typhoon Morakot.

Despite the fact the Presidential Office indicated on Friday that he would not meet President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) during his visit, the Dalai Lama’s arrival is good news.

In 2008, the Dalai Lama had expressed interest in coming to Taiwan, but President Ma Ying-jeou refused him entry saying that the "timing was not right." While one might puzzle over when and why the timing would ever be right or not right for an internationally known religious leader and man of peace to visit a country, most assumed that Ma in typical toady fashion did not want to "offend" the People's Republic of China (PRC). Certainly, Ma did need China at this time. He had made a campaign promise to raise the country's growth rate from 5 per cent to 6 per cent. Regrettably in Ma's first year in office the growth rate had dropped to 3 per cent and China was the only trick that the one-trick pony had in his bag to salvage Taiwan's economy.