A week before the Dalai Lama’s arrival in Canada, Prime Minister Paul Martin’s office announced he will meet with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
A meeting will happen, probably in Ottawa, despite protests from China, a major trading partner.
This is the first time the Dalai Lama has visited Canada since 1993. He arrives on April 19 and has scheduled stops in Vancouver, Ottawa and Toronto. He departs May 5.
The Chinese government would prefer that Canada not even allow him in the country.
Chinese Embassy officials have said: “The Dalai Lama is neither a political figure nor a religious figure. He’s just somebody involved in separating China.”
Canada does $20 billion a year in trade with China. There are fears that relationship could be threatened if Canada officially welcomes the Dalai Lama.
No Canadian prime minister has ever met with him. Martin’s office stressed, in Monday’s announcement, that the meeting will deal “spiritual” rather than political issues.
The Tibetan leader fled his country in 1959, almost a decade after Chinese troops invaded and annexed Tibet. He lives in exile in northern India, and travels the world to help further his goal of restored nationhood for Tibet.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair received the Dalai Lama in 1999 — as a spiritual leader. U.S. President George Bush met with him last year.
In 2002, the Russian government denied a visa to the Dalai Lama, saying he mixed politics with religion to a degree unacceptable to China.
