[Buddha-l] President Ma Ying-jeou decides to allow the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan

[Weng-Fai Wong]

Some latest developments that are interesting:

1. The Communist government reacted by blasting the Taiwanese 
opposition. Chinese netizens are less forgiving. Chinese discussion 
forums are boiling with angry criticisms of Ma and Taiwan.

2. The typhoon hit mostly south Taiwan's mountain areas. The hardest hit 
are the aboriginal people staying there - 80-90% of whom are Christians. 
In fact, right after the typhoon, they were first sheltered in temples 
in the foothills. They protested and Taiwanese Christian organizations 
had to come in quickly to move them to churches and other organizations.

3. A major Taoist temple has criticized the visit saying that Taiwan has 
all the monks and major Buddhist leaders it needs - it does not need a 
foreign monk to come pray for them. The temple is building a big branch 
temple in the Chinese city of Tianjin.

4. The Taiwanese Presidential Office spokesman said that President Ma 
will not meet HHDL in public or in private.

5. HHDL will arrive on Sunday and stay for a week.

The political storm continues.

W.F. Wong