19 May 2008
Dalai Lama in Germany
(UPI; BBC) During a trip to Germany, the Dalai Lama met with the Economic and Development Minister, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul. Chinese diplomats ahead of the visit had warned Berlin not to give the Dalai Lama a platform, and they reacted with strong statements to his meeting with Wieczorek-Zeul. He had no meetings with either Chancellor Merkel, who was out of the country, or Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. The Foreign Ministry said Steinmeier was too busy. Germany's coalition government (made up of Merkel's conservatives and the Steinmeier's Social Democratic Party) has disagreed over how to deal with the Tibet question, and the Dalai Lama's latest visit again revealed Berlin’s disunity in dealing with China. 25,000 people heard the Dalai Lama speak at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and more than 7,000 people turned up at a rally in Nuremberg, where the he gave a speech calling for religious tolerance. His five-day trip also included speeches in sold-out venues in the Ruhr area and in Bavaria.