Taiwan monk urges China to befriend Dalai Lama

By Benjamin Kang Lim

BEIJING (Reuters) - One of Taiwan's most influential Buddhist monks urged China on Friday to turn Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, "from an enemy into a friend" in the wake of unrest in the Himalayan region.

Tibet has become a flashpoint since March for anti-China protests that have disrupted the international leg of the Olympic torch relay and led to calls for national leaders to boycott the Beijing Games, which open on Aug. 8.

The Dalai Lama's envoys are due to fly to China from India on Saturday to meet their Chinese counterparts over the crisis in Tibet, the government-in-exile said, days after Beijing bowed to international pressure and agreed to fence-mending talks.

"It's a very good thing the Dalai Lama's envoys can come. It's also a very good thing China is willing to accept (them)," Master Hsing Yun told Reuters during a visit to China.

Hsing Yun, abbot of Buddha Light Mountain temple in Taiwan's southern port city of Kaohsiung, said China would be better off befriending the Dalai Lama, who has been demonised by Tibet's hardline Communist Party boss and state media.

"The Dalai Lama is Tibet's spiritual leader. Politically, (China) should turn (him) from an enemy into a friend," Hsing Yun said in an interview.

Hsing Yun said he did not understand recent events in Tibet but called for "mutual respect and tolerance" between China and the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule.

Asked what he thought of the Dalai Lama, Hsing Yun said they have met several times and he found the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize laureate to be "optimistic, bright and cheerful, always wearing a smile and easy to get along with".