TAIPEI: The Dalai Lama said today it was too early to say if his ongoing visit to Taiwan had hurt the island’s ties with China, but a survey

nevertheless showed widespread support here for the trip.

“We wait another six months or one year, then we will know,” Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader told Taiwan Public Television Service about the impact of his five-day tour of Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory.

The Dalai Lama, seen by China as a dangerous separatist bent on Tibetan independence, has said repeatedly his aim is to provide consolation after Typhoon Morakot, which hit Taiwan last month killing at least 613 people.

In the TV interview he brushed aside speculation that the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, which favours independence from China, had invited him just to embarrass the Beijing-friendly government in Taipei.

“Sometimes those so-called experts... create speculation like that. That’s quite normal,” he said.

The Dalai Lama spent his first full day in Taipei inside his hotel, meeting with members of the local Tibetan community as well as Buddhist groups.

“He has no plans to meet with political figures,” said Dawa Tsering, chairman of the Tibet Religious Foundation of the Dalai Lama in Taiwan, which is organising the trip. Late in the day, after the 74-year-old monk had retired to his hotel room, a group of devout followers were still waiting in the lobby hoping to catch a glimpse of him.

“We’re waiting for the miracle it would be if the Dalai Lama came down to meet us. But we can feel the energy, and that’s already a blessing for us,” said a middle-aged woman. China has announced twice it opposes the Dalai Lama’s visit to Taiwan, an island which Beijing claims as its own although it has governed itself for six decades.