China blasts Dalai Lama, welcomes SA visa ban

China has welcomed South Africa’s decision not to allow Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama from attending a peace conference to be attended by Nelson Mandela, Dusmond Tutu and FW de Klerk. Mandela’s grandson was organising the meet.

“All countries which treasure relations with China will not allow people like the Dalai Lama to destroy these relations and more than that to interfere and play his brand of politics,’’ Beijing’s ambassador to India Zhang Yan said on Wednesday.

“We are happy with South Africa’s decision,’’ Zhang said, refusing to acknowledge that Beijing exerted enormous pressure on Pretoria not to issue travel papers to the Buddhist monk.

The ambassador spoke of China’s excellent relations with South Africa and said Beijing had been an ardent supporter of the South
African peoples struggle during the apartheid years.

South Africa is China’s largest trading partner in Africa, with 2008 trade standing at $10bn. China has invested billions of dollars in South Africa.The Dalai Lama had visited South Africa twice earlier in 1999 and 2004.

The ambassador said that the Dalai Lama was free to travel to Tibet if he ready to shed his political stand and demanding freedom. “Yes he can return to Lhasa provided he abandons his position on Tibetan independence. The one-China policy is paramount. He has to first recognise that both Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable part of China.”