Dalai Lama’s Visit to Mongolia Could Fray Its Ties to China

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 ULAN BATOR, Mongolia — The Dalai Lama preached Saturday to thousands of supporters in Mongolia, on a visit expected to test the nation’s ties with China at a time when it is seeking a critical aid package from its powerful neighbor.

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled Buddhist leader, addressed followers at the Gandantegchinlen monastery in Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital, and spoke about materialism at the beginning of a four-day visit. Mongolia has said the visit will be purely religious in nature and will not include meetings with officials.

 

The Dalai Lama, center, greeted Buddhist worshipers at the Gandantegchinlen monastery in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, on Saturday. Credit Byamba-Ochir Byambasuren/European Pressphoto Agency

Still, the trip could have repercussions for Mongolia’s relationship with China, which protested previous visits by the Dalai Lama by briefly closing its border in 2002 and temporarily canceling flights from Beijing in 2006.

China views the Dalai Lama as a separatist seeking to split Tibet from China and strongly objects to any visit by the monk to other countries. The Dalai Lama has been based in India since fleeing Tibet during an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

On Friday, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly urged Mongolia to deny the Dalai Lama a visit for the sake of a “sound and steady” development of bilateral ties.

Mongolian leaders are seeking a $4.2 billion loan from Beijing to pull the country out of a deep recession. With commodity prices slumping, Mongolia is running out of hard currency to repay foreign debts and is seeking help from a neighbor that accounts for about 90 percent of its exports.

Mongolian Buddhism is closely tied to Tibet’s strain, and many in Mongolia, a heavily Buddhist country, revere the Dalai Lama, who made his first visit in 1979.

Mongolian religious figures say the visit could be the last for the Dalai Lama, 81, and some of his followers traveled hundreds of miles to see him while braving the coldest November weather in a decade.

Daritseren, 73, an ethnic Mongolian from Russian Siberia, said she had heard only on Friday that the Dalai Lama was visiting Mongolia. She traveled with 40 other people for 15 hours overnight to make it just in time for the sermon, she said.

Boldbaatar, 75, a herder, said he had traveled 125 miles. “I’m an old man,” he said. “Maybe I’m seeing His Holiness, the incarnation of Lord Buddha, for the last time.”

The Dalai Lama was scheduled to chant special sutras on Sunday at a large sports facility built by Chinese companies with Chinese aid.

nytimes.com