Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Per Stig Møller have agreed to meet with the Dalai Lama in June
When Tibet’s exiled leader, the Dalai Lama, arrives in Copenhagen in June for a five-day visit, he will meet with PM Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Foreign Minister Per Stig Møller.
The Dalai Lama was invited to Denmark by the humanitarian organization Tibet Charity, led by resident Tibetan T.D. Lakha Lama. Sources say this could be the last time that the popular 68-year-old lama visits Denmark.
Former Prime Minister Poul Nyrup Rasmussen set off a political maelstrom in the spring of 2000, when he “couldn’t find time in his calendar” to meet with the Dalai Lama officially. After months of heated debate, the two met for a short chat at Copenhagen Airport in Kastrup. The opposition was furious, and accused Nyrup of bending to Chinese pressure.
Then-Conservative Party foreign policy spokesman, Per Stig Møller, likened the former government’s conduct to the situation in the 1930’s. “It is totally inappropriate of the Danish government to consult the Chinese on who they can meet. I haven’t seen such a thing since the appeasement of Germany in the 1930’s,” Møller said at the time, noting Tibet’s independence during the period prior to the Chinese invasion of 1950.
T.D. Lakha Lama, the chief architect behind the Dalai Lama’s coming visit to Copenhagen, is pleased and proud that government leaders have agreed to meet with him.
“It’s unlikely to mean much, politically–the Dalai Lama has preferred to use his time and energy to work for non-violence and peace in the world,” said Lahka Lama.
