Monk vs Monk

The president of Taiwan, Mr.Ma, handled the recent hurricane poorly. Lives were lost and the response was slow. The opposition party (民进党), seized the opportunity to create a problem for Mr.Ma – Inviting Mr.Dalai Lama to Taiwan to pray for the victims.

This creates a dilemma for Mr.Ma. If he denies Dalam Lama’s visit, he runs the risks of angering the public further, for being insensitive to people’s spiritual needs. If he accepts Dalai Lama’s visit, he would risk destroying the rapport that he has built up carefully with Beijing. This does not help Taiwan’s economy.

Eventually he yielded to pressure and he let Dalai Lama in, purely on humanitarian ground. China, as expected, had a measured response to downgrade bilateral ties with Taiwan. Taiwanese did not seem to be impressed with Dalai Lam’s visit either. Many people thought this is just another political show. Mr.Ma gained nothing out of this.

Had Mr.Ma listened to my advice, he would not run into such problem.

My solution is as follows.

-Mr.Ma should first emphasize that Taiwan has the right to permit or deny anybody into Taiwan, based on the authority’s assessment. He should look cool and authoritative at the very least.

-Secondly, he should say that if Dalai Lama is here for humanitarian effort, he should be invited by a religious or charity body. Why is the opposition party inviting Dalai Lama? This does not make sense and he will not allow it. He would consider accepting Dalai, if he is formally invited by a religious body, or a well-respected religious figure.

-Thirdly, Mr.Ma should further say this : Look, I know people are grieving. And it’s understandable that some people might need religious support. However, we have so many respected religious figures here, including星云大师, who prays for the victims constantly. Is the opposition party holding the view that our local religious figures are not effective enough, that we must import external religious figures? Or are they politicizing this issue for their own benefit?

This way, the opposition party would be under pressure, for they are accused of playing politics while people are grieving. Secondly, they seem to not love 星云大师, a beloved man in Taiwan. Thirdly, they have no valid ground to invite Dalai.

星云大师 is expected to stay out of politics, not going to extend any invitation to Dalai. If he indeed extends the invitation, the visa will be stamped : Meet with星云大师 only. China will have more understanding of this. And most importantly, the opposition will not be able to take any credits.

This whole saga could be resolved by just one press conference. It’s piece of cake for me.