Beijing, Apr 15: China today asked the Dalai Lama
to stop his "separatist" activities and advised the Canadian
Prime Minister Paul Martin to cancel his planned meeting with
the exiled Tibetan leader.
China has made solemn representations to the Canadian
side against the visit of the Dalai Lama and the planned
meeting with the Canadian Prime Minister, Chinese foreign
ministry spokesman Kong Quan told reporters here.
"We have repeated our position towards the Dalai Lama.
He is not just a religious figure. He has been staging
splittist activities as a political activist abroad," Kong
said.
The Dalai Lama will visit Vancouver, Ottawa and
Toronto during a visit between April 19 and May 05.
Kong noted that Sino-Canada relations are developing
in all fields. "Against this background, we don't think it is appropriate for the Canadian government to receive the visit of the Dalai Lama, who is a political activist and
separatist."
"So we hope the Canadian government will bear in mind
the general picture of our friendship and bilateral ties and
stop his visit and meetings with Canadian leaders," he said.
Asked to comment on China's stand on the Dalai Lama,
The spokesman said that he has nothing new to say.
"There is no change in our stand towards the Dalai Lama. We want the Dalai Lama to stop his splittist activities by actions," he said.
Bureau Report
