Cross-strait Buddhist forum political front for China: critics.

TAIPEI, March 31 Kyodo

A high-profile forum on Buddhism descended into controversy Tuesday, as Tibetan refugees in Taiwan and the island's opposition camp accused organizers of using the global conference to advance China's bid to unify Taiwan and pacify Tibet.

Jointly hosted by China and Taiwanese religious groups, the Second World Buddhist Forum opened Saturday in Wuxi, China, and moved to Taipei on Monday, highlighting the recent thaw in relations across the Taiwan Strait.

Some 1,000 monks, scholars and officials arrived in Taiwan to attend the second half of the conference, according to the local media.

''This forum is being stage-managed by Beijing to convince Taiwan and the world that China has religious freedom,'' said Khedroob Thondup, a member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile and director of the Taiwan branch of the Tibetan Refugee Help Center.

The forum's keynote speaker in Wuxi was the Beijing-backed Panchen Lama, who extolled what he said was religious freedom in China.

The 19-year-old Panchen Lama is being groomed by the Chinese government to counter the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader who advocates greater autonomy for the Tibet Autonomous Region.

Forum spokesman Shih Mingsheng said the Dalai Lama was not invited because he is ''a separatist who seeks to divide China,'' according to local media.

Beijing typically demonizes the Dalai Lama, a Nobel peace laureate, as seeking independence for Tibet, a charge the Dalai Lama denies.

''This fake Panchen Lama is serving as Beijing's puppet, and the message is: only by following the Chinese Communist Party can you practice religion,'' Thondup said. ''For Beijing not to invite the Dalai Lama to the forum significantly degrades its value.''

Adding to the political undertones is Hong Kong home affairs secretary Tsang Tak-sing, a Beijing loyalist who is leading a delegation to the Taiwan-hosted leg of the forum as the highest ranking Hong Kong official to visit the island since 1997.

The Democratic Progressive Party also slammed the forum for its support for unification of Taiwan with mainland China.

Hsing Yun, the conference's main organizer in Taiwan, told reporters, ''There are no Taiwanese in Taiwan...show me a person in Taiwan who is not Chinese.''

''The more cross-strait exchanges we have, the more entwined we will become. Then, we won't be able to distinguish who's mainland Chinese and who's Taiwanese -- we will naturally become unified,'' added Hsing, a monk who founded the Fo Kuang Shan monastery, which runs branch temples across the island and in China.

''The vast majority of Taiwanese identify themselves as Taiwanese, not Chinese,'' said DPP spokesman Chao Tien-lin. ''It's regretful that (Hsing) does not recognize this fact, and it's even more regretful that he appears, we feel, to putting politics before religion to curry favor with Beijing.''

Fo Kuang Shan spokespeople declined to comment. A press release said Hsing's comments had been ''taken out of context.'' It did not elaborate.