The time is not opportune for a third visit by the Dalai Lama to Taiwan, a senior island official said yesterday.

Kao Su-po, the "minister of the Mongolian and Tibetan affairs commission", told lawmakers that security officials had evaluated the situation and come to the conclusion that this was not the right time.

His comments came shortly after the Association of Taiwan Journalists offered the Dalai Lama an invitation to visit.

Since fleeing from the Chinese mainland after a failed uprising by Tibet's feudalistic upper class, the Dalai Lama has paid two visits to Taiwan - in 1997 and 2001 - during the rule of former island leaders Li Teng-hui and Chen Shui-bian.

The island's current leader Ma Ying-jeou ruled out the Dalai Lama's visit to Taiwan in December, saying the timing was not right.

A visit would be a highly sensitive matter, so the island's government had to evaluate reactions to visits by the Dalai Lama to other countries and make a decision in Taiwan's best interest, Kao told lawmakers yesterday.

South Africa, too, said it has barred the Dalai Lama from a peace conference later this week, citing its relationship with China.

Thabo Masebe, spokesman for President Kgalema Motlanthe, said yesterday that the decision was made last month and the organizers of the conference were informed.

South African football officials organized the conference to highlight the first World Cup to be held in Africa, in South Africa in 2010.

(China Daily March 24, 2009)