Dutch Lawmakers Defy China’s Pressure on His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Visit Friday, 17 April 2009, 12:14 p.m.

His Holiness the Dalai Lama/File

Dharamshala: Dutch
lawmakers said Thursday they will invite His Holiness the Dalai Lama to
parliament despite a warning from China that the visit would harm
relations between the two nations, the Associated Press (AP) reported
Friday.In a letter to Henk Jan Ormel, chair of the
parliamentary foreign affairs committee, China’s ambassador in The
Hague, Mrs Xue Hanqin, warns of the adverse consequences of such a
visit. In the letter, she objects to His Holiness the Dalai Lama being
received by the speaker, Gerdi Verbeet, and other MPs. She argues the
official meeting would not be conducive to good relations “in this time
of economic crisis”. Mr Ormel stresses that MPs reserve the right to decide for themselves who visits parliament.A
lawmaker for the ruling Christian Democrats also sharply criticized
China’s ambassador for attempting to interfere with Dutch politics.The
Dutch don’t interfere with Chinese political meetings “and we expect
the same respect from the Chinese ambassador,” legislator Maarten
Haverkamp was quoted as saying by AP.Earlier, in December 2008,
the Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs, Maxime Verhagen, already
declared that His Holiness the Dalai Lama is welcome in the Netherlands.His Holiness the Dalai Lama will visit the Netherlands in June. During
the visit, His Holiness will give a teaching on ‘Shantideva’s Chapter 6
on Patience from A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life’ at the Rai
Congress Center. A public talk on ‘The Power of Compassion At A
Turbulent Time’ at the Rai Congress Center in Amsterdam is also in the
programme.