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Beijing calls off Taiwan trip to pay tribute to late monk Hsing Yun amid entry permit row
- Mainland officials accuse the island of disregarding ‘humanitarianism’ by not allowing some members of a delegation to visit
- Taiwanese authorities say there were security concerns
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Amber Wangin Beijing
Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office has accused the island of obstruction after a trip by mainland officials to pay tribute to a late Buddhist monk was called off.
Taiwanese authorities said there were security concerns about the visit and the mainland was engaging in “political manipulation”.
Beijing said on Saturday that 38 Buddhist representatives and officials from the TAO and other bodies were planning to go to Taiwan to express condolences for late Buddhist Master Hsing Yun.
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Hsing Yun, an advocate of peaceful reunification across the Taiwan Strait, died on Sunday at the Fo Guang Shan monastery he founded in Kaohsiung.
TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian said the group – which also included officials from Jiangsu province, the State Administration for Religious Affairs and the Buddhist Association of China – was planning to leave on Saturday and return on Tuesday but the visit had to be called off “due to the obstruction” of the island’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party authorities.
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Zhu said the group applied to make the trip through “normal channels” with help Fo Guang Shan and arrived at an airport in Beijing on Saturday morning for departure but the trip was abandoned.
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