Protesters greet Dalai Lama as he arrives at Taipei hotel

The Dalai Lama yesterday completed his mission to comfort typhoon victims in southern Taiwan and checked in at a Taipei hotel, where he was confronted by about 200 pro-unification protesters who questioned the nature of his visit.

'The Chinese come to help; the Dalai Lama comes to make trouble,' the protesters shouted as they scuffled with police denying them access to the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

With the Dalai Lama leaving Taiwan tomorrow, the mainland-friendly Taiwanese government watched nervously to see whether he would make any political moves in Taipei that would provoke Beijing, which brands him a separatist.

The Kuomintang government had previously turned down the Dalai Lama's requests to visit Taiwan. But the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot, which left more than 600 people dead last month, left the government in a weak position as public anger grew over its slow response.

The pro-independence opposition Democratic Progressive Party quickly issued an invitation to the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan to comfort victims. President Ma Ying-jeou's government quickly agreed, despite knowing that this would anger Beijing.

Ma is eager to put the visit and the typhoon behind him. He and Premier Liu Chao-shiuan have agreed on a moderate cabinet reshuffle next week to revive the administration's plunging popularity.

Liu said on Tuesday that the scale of the reshuffle, which would be announced on Monday, would be 'slightly bigger than a small-scale shake-up'. This meant that apart from those who have already offered their resignations to take the blame - including Foreign Affairs Vice-Minister Andrew Hsia Li-yan, Defence Minister Chen Chao-min and cabinet secretary general Hsueh Hsiang-chuan - the change would be limited.