December 5, 2016
ASIA / PACIFIC
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3
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LAST VISIT. His Holiness the Dalai Lama preaches to Mongolians at the Sports Palace in Ulaanbaatar in
Mongolia. The Dalai Lama addressed thousands of Buddhists in Mongolia despite demands from China that
the visit by the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader be scrapped, at a time Mongolia seeks a critical aid package from
its powerful neighbor. (AP Photo/Ganbat Namjilsangarav)
Dalai Lama preaches in
Mongolia, risking China’s fury
LAANBAATAR, Mongolia — The
Dalai
Lama
preached
to
thousands of Buddhists in
Mongolia despite demands from China
that the visit by the exiled Tibetan
spiritual leader be scrapped, at a time
Mongolia seeks a critical aid package from
its powerful neighbor.
The Dalai Lama addressed followers at
the Gandantegchenlin monastery and
spoke about materialism at the start of his
four-day visit that Mongolia said was
purely religious in nature.
The Dalai Lama also chanted special
sutras at a large sports facility built by
Chinese companies through Chinese aid.
The trip could have repercussions for
land-locked Mongolia’s relationship with
China, which protested previous visits by
the Dalai Lama by briefly closing its
border in 2002 and temporarily cancelling
flights from Beijing in 2006.
China’s foreign ministry had demanded
the Dalai Lama’s visit be cancelled.
Spokesman Geng Shuang said the Dalai
Lama is a “political exile who has long been
engaging in splitting China activities in
the name of religion with the aim of
alienating Tibet from China.”
Geng appealed to Mongolia to maintain
“the general picture of a sound and steady
development of bilateral ties (and)
earnestly stick to its commitment on
Tibet-related issues.”
The Dalai Lama has been based in India
since fleeing Tibet during an abortive
uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.
His visit coincided with attempts by
Mongolian leaders to obtain 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 roughly 90 percent of its exports.
Mongolian Buddhism is closely tied to
Tibet’s strain and many in the 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 81-year-old
spiritual leader, and some of his followers
travelled hundreds of miles to see him
while braving the coldest November
temperatures in a decade.
Daritseren, an ethnic Mongolian from
Russian Siberia, said she heard just a day
before that the Dalai Lama was visiting
and travelled with 40 other people for 15
hours overnight to make it just in time for
the sermon.
Boldbaatar, a 75-year-old herder, said
he rushed from 125 miles away.
“I’m an old man,” he said. “Maybe I’m
seeing His Holiness, the incarnation of
Lord Buddha, for the last time.”
Religious scholars said the Dalai Lama
is expected to offer input on the search for
the
10th
reincarnation
of
the
Jebtsundamba Khutuktu, a top-ranked
lama in Buddhism.
China astronauts
return from monthlong
space station stay
South Korea’s Park
makes rare public
appearance amid scandal
BEIJING (AP) — A pair of Chinese
astronauts have returned from a
monthlong stay in the country’s space
station, China’s sixth and longest crewed
mission to date.
Veteran mission commander Jing
Haipeng and first-time space traveller
Chen Dong landed in their Shenzhou 11
return vehicle on the frozen steppes of
Inner Mongolia.
They spent 30 days aboard the Tiangong
2 station conducting experiments and
testing equipment in preparation for the
launch of the station’s core module in 2018.
A fully functioning, permanently crewed
space station is on course to begin
operation six years from now and slated to
run for a decade.
The Tiangong 2 that launched on
September 15 is orbiting 244 miles above
the earth.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South
Korea’s president visited a rural market
last month in her first public appearance
out among her citizens since a huge
political scandal exploded in October.
Park Geun-hye’s visit to the market in
the southeastern city of Daeju took place
while her opponents squabbled over
whether and when to impeach her after
she made a conditional resignation offer.
The visit was also made just before
police detained a man suspected of setting
fire to the birthplace of Park’s late dictator
father in the nearby city of Gumi.
Park Geun-hye’s office said she visited
the market to review a recent fire, which
destroyed hundreds of shops.
Daegu is Park’s political home turf,
where she was elected as a national
lawmaker four times before becoming
president in 2013.
By Ganbat Namjilsangarav
The Associated Press
U
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