DALAI LAMA WAVES TO REPORTERS AFTER NEWS CONFERENCE, 1997-03-27 (photo)

Exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama gestures to reporters at the end of a news conference as his chief host in Taiwan, Master Ching Hsin of the private Buddhist Association of the Republic of China, tries to whisk him away to catch the departing flight March 27 in Taipei. The Dalai Lama, revered as a god-king in Tibet but reviled by China as a splittist trying to separate Tibet from the mainland, stayed in Taiwan for six days in a visit that culminated with a meeting with Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui earlier on March 27. China has lashed out at the Dalai Lama's visit, calling it a bid to engage in "splittist" activities. Beijing, rivals with Taiwan since they split after a civil war in 1949, also accuses Lee of being a closet supporter of the island's independence from China. TAIWAN DALAI