TAIWAN BUDDHISTS AND RESIDENTS AWAIT TIBET'S DALAI LAMA, 1997-03-22 (photo)

Buddhist nuns and laymen await the arrival March 22 of Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, at Taiwan's biggest Buddhist monastery, Fukuangshan or Mountain of Buddha's Light. The Tibetan Buddhist god-king, making his first visit to Chinese territory since fleeing his Himalayan homeland after an abortive anti-Chinese uprising in 1959, arrived on Saturday for a six-day tour of Nationalist-ruled Taiwan. He declined to answer questions about the sensitive political nature of his trip or communist China's virulent attacks calling him a "splittist" seeking independence for both Tibet and Taiwan from China. TAIWAN DALAI