Dharamsala, November 13: Chinese government is trying to persuade a prominent South African leader not to attend a summit of world leaders to discuss China’s rule of Tibet, SAPA news Agency cited a local newspaper of the country as reporting on Thursday.

According to the report, China's Consul General, Liu Yantao recently wrote a letter to Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the South Africa’s Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), asking him not to take part in the summit scheduled to take place later this month.

Buthelezi, who is a friend of the exiled Tibetan leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama, has refused to turn down the invitation, the paper is said to have reported.

Attempts to persuade the South African government to block Buthelezi also failed as government told the Chinese that South Africa is a democratic country which allowed its citizens to travel anywhere as they wished, the report said.

A two-day “5th World Parliamentarians' Convention on Tibet' will take place in Italy's capital Rome from 18 – 19 November.

According to a report on the official website of the Tibetan Government-in-Exile, an 18-member Tibetan parliamentary delegation led by Speaker Penpa Tsering will take part in the Convention.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Speaker Penpa Tsering and Tibetan Prime Minister Samdong Rinpoche will address the convention organised by the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile and jointly co-hosted by the Italian Parliamentarian Group for Tibet and International Campaign for Tibet, Europe, the report said.