I continue to feel ambivalent towards China – which is one of the reasons I am going there. There are a lot of reports in the Western media, but how much of the information is true, and how much information is left out or not known, ‘lost in translation’ [no reference to that rather feeble film].
Currently here in Melbourne all is a flutter with the impending visit of the Dalai Lama. If there is one person in the world that upsets people in power it is this gentle Tibetan man. Just today, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, John So, a popular man of Chinese heritage, has been forced by other members of the council to invite the Dalai Lama to visit the Melbourne Town Hall. Councillor So is aligned with Melbourne’s Chinese, business community and had tried to ensure no councillors would meet the spiritual leader. The prime minister of Australia, John Howard, and the opposition leader, Kevin Rudd, have both been giving out mixed messages about whether they will, whether they won’t, meet the Dalai Lama. Everyone is terrified of a Chinese economic backlash if they officially acknowledge him.
