TAOYUAN, Taiwan - The Dalai Lama denied any political agenda as he began what he described as a "purely humanitarian" mission to comfort victims of Taiwan's worst storm, trying to calm fears that he would further anger China.
Although the Tibetan spiritual leader has travelled to Taiwan before, many fear his visit could hurt the island's improving relations with rival China -- the signature issue in the 15-month-old administration of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou.
China has protested the visit, and a Chinese official for Taiwan affairs Sunday night warned it "is bound to have a negative influence on the relations between the mainland and Taiwan."
Ma has said he approved the Dalai Lama's visit but will not meet him.
The Dalai Lama, who greeted Buddhist followers and supporters at the Taoyuan International Airport near Taipei on Sunday, said his visit would have no political overtones.
"I've visited different parts of the world, and I may have a political agenda there ... (but) my visit here is purely for humanitarian concerns," he said.
Typhoon Morakot left about 670 people dead when it hit the island in early August. On Monday, the Dalai Lama planned to visit a village where an estimated 500 people were buried under mudslides. He also planned to lead a mass prayer ritual during his five-day trip, calling his acceptance of the invitation to visit "my moral responsibility."
His arrival at a suburban Taipei train station Sunday was greeted by about 50 demonstrators waving Chinese flags and banners supporting unification with China and shouting, "Go home Dalai Lama, don't come here." The demonstrators briefly scuffled with police.
"I'm here to oppose the Dalai Lama's visit," 62-year-old Feng Tsai-chiao said. "I want unification with China, so I don't like him."
China has long vilified the Dalai Lama for what it says are his attempts to fight for independence in Tibet. Beijing has said it "resolutely opposes" the Taiwan visit "in whatever form and capacity."
But instead of criticizing Ma, the spokesman for China's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office blasted Taiwan's opposition Democratic Progressive Party for its "ulterior motives to instigate the Dalai Lama, who has long been engaged in separatist activities, to visit Taiwan."
Taiwan's opposition invited the Dalai Lama to comfort the typhoon victims.
In an editorial Monday, the official China Daily said, "With the mainland offering to provide whatever it could possibly deliver to assuage the pains of the typhoon victims, the DPP has appeared more interested in turning disaster relief into a political circus."
Wu Poh-hsiung, the chairman of Ma's Nationalist Party, said earlier Sunday that his party had sought Beijing's understanding of the visit, but he did not give details or say whether China responded.
"We believe the Dalai Lama will have the wisdom to distinguish between religious empathy and political manoeuvring," Wu told reporters.
In blaming Taiwan's opposition, not Ma, for the invitation, China appeared to be trying to keep the improving relations on track. China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949, and China's leaders want the self-governing island back.
The invitation had put Ma in a bind -- either risk angering China or give further ammunition to his detractors, who were already reveling over widespread perceptions that Ma's government had badly botched typhoon relief efforts.
