REUTERS
Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama. Photo: Alex Domanski
Sa’s trade and diplomatic ties with China weighed heavily when the government considered the Dalai Lama’s request for a visa to visit SA last month for Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu’s 80th birthday celebration, Home Affairs has conceded
Home Affairs director general Mkuseli Apleni said in an answering affidavit to an application brought by the IFP and Cope that Pretoria’s One China policy, South Africa’s Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, Chinaand SA) membership, and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe’s recent visit to China had all been taken into account.
The government was also mindful of the fallout other nations experienced after they hosted the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, who is blacklisted by China as a separatist.
“The backlash that was experienced by France and Australia after they had allowed the Dalai Lama to visit their territories provided some learning,” Apleni said in the submission to the Cape High Court, obtained yesterday.
He insisted though, that Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma had not taken any decision to reject the visa application when the Dalai Lama withdrew it after weeks of waiting for a response.
“The withdrawal of the visa application was premature.”
Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, an IFP MP, said the government would soon face the same dilemma again as Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the party’s leader, had invited the Dalai Lama to an interfaith prayer meeting in South Africa in March. – Sapa