Beijing, China - China may approve a visit by the Dalai Lama, as long as he abandons ideas of independence for Tibet, and establish diplomatic ties with the Vatican if it first drops links with Taiwan, the country's top religious official was quoted on Monday as saying.
The remarks by Ye Xiaowen, director of the cabinet's State Bureau of Religious Affairs, come just weeks before a summit in Washington between Chinese President Hu Jintao and his U.S. counterpart, George W. Bush, a devout Christian who prodded China to allow greater religious freedom when he visited last November.
The Dalai Lama said last month he wanted to go to China to visit Buddhist landmarks and witness the economic progress the Asian powerhouse has made in recent years. Ye appeared welcoming. "As long as the Dalai Lama makes clear that he has completely abandoned Tibetan 'independence', it is not impossible for us to consider his visit," Ye told the China Daily, the government's English-language mouthpiece. "We can discuss it."
The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since 1959 when he fled after a failed uprising against Communist rule nine years after the takeover of his Himalayan homeland.
The Tibetan leader has reiterated his "Middle Way" position that seeks greater autonomy for Tibet but not independence.
However, Ye dismissed the Dalai Lama's overtures saying that he "has failed to deliver a clear message on his stance".
China is suspicious of the Dalai Lama, a Nobel Peace Prize winner who is revered by and rubs shoulders with foreign leaders.
Talks between the Dalai Lama's envoys and China resumed in 2002, but have made little substantial progress.
In a sign of greater religious tolerance, Zhejiang province in China's east coast will host the World Buddhist Forum on April 13-16 -- the first international religious meeting since the atheist Communists swept to power in 1949.
On the issue of forging diplomatic relations with the Vatican, Ye said the Holy See must meet two conditions -- break off ties with self-ruled democratic Taiwan which Beijing claims as its own and refrain from meddling in China's internal affairs.
"We can establish diplomatic relations with the Vatican very soon if the two principles are accepted," Ye said. "But it is very hard for us to do so if the two principles are violated."
China argues that its Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, not the Vatican, has the sole right to appoint bishops.