The Guardian, 14 June 2012

Tibetan spiritual leader’s booking for business event allegedly caused China to threaten pulling city’s Olympic training camp

The businessman whose invitation for the Dalai Lama to speak in Leeds sparked an Olympics row has accused Chinese officials of a “ridiculous” attempt to prevent the speech.

The BBC has reported that the officials threatened to find a new training camp for its athletes, who are due to prepare for the Games in the city, unless the exiled Tibetan leader’s address to a business convention was cancelled.

Asked whether the Dalai Lama’s visit to Leeds would have any impact on China’s participation in the Olympics, a foreign ministry spokesman in Beijing said: “We hope the British side stop making mistakes again and again, which undermine China’s interests. China-UK relations have been affected by the recent meeting between the British leader and the Dalai Lama. The responsibility lies with the British side.”

But Liu Weimin added: “The Chinese delegation is making preparations for the 2012 Olympics. I think politics and sport should be separated.”

Leeds will host more than 200 Chinese athletes for the Games in a deal worth a quarter of a million pounds. China would presumably be loath to look for a new base so close to the Games.

The Dalai Lama is booked as keynote speaker at the Yorkshire International Business Convention, which will also feature Michael Portillo, Mary Portas and Kevin Keegan among others.

Mike Firth, the event’s founder, said Leeds city council told him officials from the Chinese embassy had suggested it put pressure on him to cancel the visit – although no mention of the training camp was made. “[The council] said their response was that it was a private event and they were not prepared to do that, and that was the end of it,” he added.

Firth said he had been amused by the suggestion because he thought it ridiculous. “Here we have an unelected communist state coming and dictating to local politicians. What we pride ourselves on in this country is freedom of speech. Clearly, they don’t,” he said. “[The Dalai Lama] is not coming to give a political speech but to talk about business ethics.”

The Chinese government says the Dalai Lama is intent on splitting China, while the exiled leader says he seeks only meaningful autonomy for Tibet.

Last month, a senior Chinese leader cancelled a visit to Britain after learning that David Cameron was to meet the Dalai Lama. Fabian Hamilton, the Labour MP for Leeds North East and chairman of the all-party parliamentary group for Tibet, accused China of “bully-boy tactics”.

Leeds city council’s chief executive, Tom Riordan, told the BBC on Wednesday: “The Yorkshire International Business Convention is a private event not organised by Leeds city council. Whilst we are aware of some sensitivities around this year’s convention, as it is not a council event we do not feel it is appropriate for us to make any further comment.”

The University of Leeds– which will host many of the Chinese athletes – declined to comment, saying it was a matter for the council.

A representative of the Dalai Lama in Delhi said he had no direct knowledge of the protest but was not surprised. “Whenever his holiness moves his feet or opens his mouth, they protest. They accuse him of all kinds of things. So they are perfectly capable of that,” he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/jun/14/china-dalai-lama-leeds