China Irked by Dalai Lama's Taiwan Trip

China's central government condemned the Dalai Lama's recent visit to Taiwan. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the leader-in-exile of Tibet, the Dalai Lama went to the island nation to offer prayers for the more than 600 people killed or missing after Typhoon Morakot hit last month.

For Beijing, this visit raises the specter of an alliance between two regions that it considers separatist areas of China.

Tibet has been under Chinese rule since 1949; the Dalai Lama was forced into exile after a Tibetan uprising in 1959. During the early twentieth century, Tibet was an independent nation ruled by the 13th Dalai Lama (predecessor of the present Dalai Lama).

Taiwan spent 50 years under Japanese rule, until the Axis powers surrendered in 1945 after losing World War II. The Chinese Civil War was raging as the world war ended, and in 1949 the Communist forces under Mao Zedong defeated the Nationalists or Kuomintang. Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek led a retreat to Taiwan, where the Kuomintang set up a separate government.

Today, Tibet is a restive autonomous region within the People's Republic of China. Taiwan, also known as the Republic of China, functions as an independent nation, although other countries refuse to grant it official diplomatic recognition for fear of upsetting Beijing.

If these two opponents of the central Chinese government were to combine forces, they could cause trouble for Beijing - as China is well aware.