Dalai Clique arrives in UK: Cadre frowny faced: Wen called by PM: "Not at No. 10, yeah?"

As if Wen needs to take a break from watching the recovvery of tens of thousands of bodies from the rats and take a call from Brown. "Hey, No. 2, this is No 1!" The Torch watches Wen grimace. The Dalai Clique sends money home. Meanwhile Brown tells Wen, "I won't meet him at No. 10, cheers!"

UK visit by Dalai Lama irks China
By James Blitz in London and Hugh Williamson in Berlin
Published: May 20 2008 03:00 | Last updated: May 20 2008 03:00
China has begun to express strong concern about the visit to the UK this week by the Dalai Lama, Tibet's -spiritual leader, saying it is "dismayed" that he will be meeting Gordon Brown and opposition leaders.

As the Dalai Lama prepares for a visit to the UK parliament tomorrow followed by a meeting with the prime minister on Friday, senior Chinese officials condemned the impending meetings as "political in nature" and "unfortunate."

The British government has sought to avoid offending Beijing by arranging for Mr Brown to meet the Dalai Lama at Lambeth palace and not at Downing Street. By holding the meeting at the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, the government is underscoring that it sees the Dalai Lama as a spiritual figure.

The Chinese authorities are irritated, however, that David Cameron, the Conservative leader, is meeting the Dalai Lama tomorrow, when China will still be observing three days of national mourning for the earthquake victims.

"This is particularly unfortunate and further aggravates matters," said a senior Chinese official last night. "People are in grief and cannot understand the timing." The official added that Beijing's ambassador to London would raise her concerns about all these issues with MPs at a private meeting.

Mr Brown was careful to inform Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier, of his plans to meet the Dalai Lama before making the move public.

The visit by the spiritual leader yesterday to Berlin was overshadowed by a slanging match between the Christian Democrats of Angela Merkel, the chancellor, and her coalition partner, the Social Democrats, led in cabinet by Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the foreign minister .

Mr Steinmeier declined to meet the Dalai Lama during his five-day visit, which ended yesterday, arguing that such a meeting could undermine international efforts to promote sustained contact between China and Tibet. In contrast, several senior CDU figures met the spiritual leader.

The CDU accused Mr Steinmeier of "cowardice" due to pressure from China, while the SPD said the CDU was "using the [Tibetan leader's] visit for their own domestic political ends" of discrediting the foreign -minister.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Dalai Lama starts tour in London


Protests are expected during the Dalai Lama's visit
The Dalai Lama is due to arrive in London at the start of a 10-day visit to the UK.
The Tibetan spiritual leader will address Parliament and give evidence on human rights to a parliamentary committee during his trip.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown will not receive him at 10 Downing Street but is due to meet him with the Archbishop of Canterbury at Lambeth Palace on Friday.
Protests at his visit from a variety of interest groups are expected in London.
Demonstrators are expected to target his speech at the Albert Hall on Thursday and his meeting with Mr Brown at the end of the week. Scotland Yard said "appropriate" policing would be in place.
The head of the Tibetan government-in-exile is also due to meet Conservative leader David Cameron, teach in Nottingham and receive an honorary doctorate from London Metropolitan University.
Territorial dispute
The visit, and particularly questions over where and whether he should meet Gordon Brown, has proved controversial.
China and Tibet have long disagreed over the status of Tibet, and China sent troops into the region to enforce a territorial claim in 1950.
The Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile have been based in India since fleeing Tibet nine years later.

Supporters of the Dalai Lama will be offended at this apparent downgrading of his political status
Jill McGivering
BBC News

Balancing act of Dalai Lama's visit
Anti-China protests led by Buddhist monks began in the capital Lhasa on 10 March this year and gradually escalated into rioting.
The demonstrations took place after the anniversary of the 1959 uprising and ahead of the Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.
China says at least 19 people were killed by the rioters, but Tibetan exiles say dozens of people were killed by the Chinese security forces as they moved to quell the unrest.
Beijing says the Dalai Lama incited the violence, which he denies and accuses the Chinese government of human rights abuses.
China says Tibet has officially been part of the Chinese nation since the mid-13th Century and so should continue to be ruled by Beijing.
Many Tibetans disagree, pointing out that the Himalayan region was an independent kingdom for many centuries, and that Chinese rule over Tibet has not been constant.