The Chinese government media isn’t exactly famous for showing His Holiness the respect he deserves, but this story from The People’s Daily Online – wherein he is twice derided as a “joker” – seems particularly petty.
And: is the Dalai Lama being gagged by the Taiwanese government while on his trip to the country?
Here’s the People’s Daily story, verbatim/complete:
The Dalai Lama, who was invited to Taiwan by officials of DPP (Democratic Progressive Party), held a so called “Dharma service” in Gaoxiong General Gymnasium. High-level officials of Taiwan Authority were all absent.
According to the report, the Dalai Lama was wearing a peaked cap and told jokes on the solemn and respectful Dharma ceremony. Before the beginning of the Dharma, the joker asked the work men to move the table in front of him. Then the table, made of wood blocks suddenly fell apart.
The joker laughed uncomfortably.
How sad: To resort to calling the Dalai Lama a “joker” and to question his dharma really only reveals how desperate China is to compete with his messages of compassion and unity. The fact that he loves to laugh (and to make us laugh) only makes him all the more human and relatable — despite the generally agreed-upon holiness of His Holiness.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has of course been walking a fine line when it comes to its relationship with China. Is this enough for Taiwan to silence the Dalai Lama while he’s in the country?
According to Bloomberg, no. Or, maybe, yes:
A Tibetan official today rejected media reports the Taiwanese government is gagging the Dalai Lama during his visit to the island to avoid straining ties with neighboring China.
The Dalai Lama wasn’t told by the government to curtail his activities during the five-day visit that ends tomorrow, Sonam Dorjee, secretary of the Taipei-based Tibet Religious Foundation of the Dalai Lama, said by telephone.
[But] The Nobel Peace Prize winner’s nephew, Khedroob Thondup, told Agence France-Presse yesterday the government had imposed a “gag order” on the Dalai Lama because of pressure from authorities in Beijing.
His Holiness leaves Taiwan tomorrow. (Next stop: New Delhi). It will be interesting to see what shape China and Taiwan’s messaging takes after he’s departed. But whatever the People’s Daily says, it’s the people themselves who matter most here. And, as Bloomberg reports about the trip:
The Dalai Lama’s trip was supported by 75.4 percent of 798 people polled by the Public Survey Center of the opposition DPP, while 18.1 percent were against the visit. The poll had a margin of error of 3.75 percentage points.
Dalai Lama visit to Taiwan to heal the suffering of the victims of the flood is a success in the sense that he has raised the awareness of theTaiwanese fo the importance of Democracy experient of the island in engaging relationship with the mainland.
I think this is the most relevant score point for his holy highness inspite of the hoo-ha of an unruly democracy.If at all the gag from the mainland to Taiwan govt is applicable.
Champion of compassion and democracy is mutual reinforcing ,if Dalai can build democracy and rule of law as a platform to promote peace and the cause of reunification of China,not otherwise ,the hostile attitude China can be soften to be engaged for reopening of talks between the two parties, of which are condusive to peace of China with others and harmony within the Chinese society both are essential to China.Member of Peaceful Reunification of China-Oversea promoter(PRC–Op) working group,Malaysia