Tsai’s dilemma: should Taiwan’s newly elected leader allow the Dalai Lama to visit and risk angering Beijing?

Taiwan president-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s honeymoon period with mainland China could be short-lived if she allows the Dalai Lama to visit the self-ruled democratic island that Beijing claims as its own, two senior political sources said.

China regards Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader as a separatist and Ma Ying-jeou, the outgoing president who favours closer economic ties with the mainland, refused the Dalai Lama entry several times since his last visit to Taiwan in 2009.

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On that occasion Ma did allow him in, although he did not meet the 80-year-old.

With invitations pending from Buddhist groups that are likely to be renewed after Tsai and her pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party easily won January elections, the incoming leader faces a dilemma, said a Taiwanese source close to the DPP and another with direct knowledge of the matter.

“The Dalai Lama could visit as early as around national day,” said the source close to the DPP, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

The Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name, marks its national day on October 10.

Since sweeping to victory at the polls, Tsai has vowed to seek to maintain the “status quo of peace and stability” with mainland China, Taiwan’s biggest trading partner, and Chinese state-run media have noted her pledges.