Dalai Lama's Upcoming Visit to Taiwan Provokes China

Ma Ying-jeou said today that he'll allow the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan, to comfort the victims of a recent typhoon. While the Taiwanese President describes the visit as a spiritual one, China sees it as a political provocation. The Chinese government has sharply criticized the Dalai Lama, accusing him of fomenting independence for Tibet. The uproar over his planned visit comes at a time when Taiwanese-Chinese relations had been improving. Robert Barnett is Director of the Modern Tibetan Studies program at Columbia University.