Taiwan, which turned away the Dalai Lama last year on fears of upsetting China, has approved a visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader next week to comfort victims of a deadly typhoon, the government said today.

Beijing brands the India-based Tibetan luminary as a separatist and condemns his trips abroad.

The president's office, which is under fire for perceptions that his response to typhoon Morakot was too slow, and national security officials decided in a five-hour meeting on Wednesday to let the Dalai Lama visit from Aug 31-Sept 3, the Government Information Office said.

NONE "President Ma has done the right thing after a long, long time," said Khedroob Thondup, a Taipei-based member of the Tibetan parliament in exile. "If they refused His Holiness, there would have been a backlash."

Taiwan, home to a large exiled Tibetan community and millions of Buddhists, allowed visits by the Dalai Lama in 1997 and 2001.

But President Ma Ying-jeou last year quashed hopes for a 2009 visit by the Tibetan spiritual leader saying the timing was wrong, as his government was working to improve relations with China. Taiwan Buddhist groups, who had suggested the visit in September, criticized the decision.

Since taking office in 2008, Ma's administration has avoided action that could anger Beijing as he pursues trade ties.

Coming to comfort survivors

Invited this week by local governments in south Taiwan, where the Aug 7-9 typhoon is feared to have killed nearly 700 people in mudslides, the Dalai Lama will comfort survivors, many of whom are homeless, the information office said.

China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's KMT fled to Taiwan. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.

The 73-year-old Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in the region, occupied by People's Liberation Army troops in 1950.

- Reuters