Taiwan's President Ma Ying-jeou on Wednesday made it clear that Tibet's spiritual leader the Dalai Lama is not likely to visit the island for now, as Taipei's ties with Beijing improve.

"Religious leaders are welcome to visit Taiwan… but I think at the current moment, the timing is not appropriate for that," Ma told members of the Taipei Foreign Correspondents Club, without going into details.

His remarks came after the Dalai Lama voiced his desire to visit Taiwan in a recent interview with a local newspaper in Dharamsala, the town in northern India where his exiled government had been based since a failed uprising in 1959.

But analysts said the Ma Ying-jeou administration is not likely to grant permission for such a controversial visit, which would irk Beijing.

"This is a sensitive issue as any visit by the Dalai Lama has political implications," said George Tsai, political science professor at the Chinese Culture University in Taipei.

"Should he come, Beijing would be angry. It would do no good to Taiwan or the cross-Strait relationship," he said.

The Dalai Lama is reviled by the Chinese government, which has branded him a "monster" and accused him of trying to split the nation.

He made a historic first trip to Taiwan in March 1997 and visited the island again in 2001, triggering strong condemnation from China.

Cross-Strait tensions have eased since the China-friendly Ma took office earlier this year, promising to improve trade and tourism links with Beijing following eight years of strained relations under the previous pro-independence government.

China and Taiwan split in 1949 after a civil war, but Beijing regards the island as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary.

earlier related report

France-China squabble holds up happy end to film deal

A major China film fest opened Wednesday in Paris with all but the happy end in sight, as a coproduction deal was snagged by diplomatic friction between one of the world's top film producers and the planet's most populous nation.

"This agreement will be signed, sooner or later," Yang Buting, who heads China Film Promotion International, told AFP. "It will be beneficial to both nations, it will enable us to produce better films.

"I believe in the lasting friendship between France and China."

A cast of Chinese film industry officials, actors and directors flew in to the French capital for the first edition of the weeklong Panorama of Chinese Cinema, showcasing new blockbusters as well as cult classics, including China's first film in colour.

But at the gala launch, cocktail talk largely focussed on a much-anticipated and potentially lucrative bilateral coproduction accord — years in the making but yet to be officially signed.

Details of the deal, enabling productions from either nation to pick up wads of state funding and widen market access, have been finalised, said a statement from Culture Minister Christine Albanel issued after a November 7 meeting in Paris with Communication and Cinema Minister Wang Taihua.

"The accord", it noted, "will be signed during the Chinese premier's upcoming visit to France", a visit initially due to have taken place this week as part of an EU-China summit in France.

But in recent days ties between the two nosedived, with Beijing, in an unprecedented move, scrapping the summit at the last minute after President Nicholas Sarkozy announced he planned to meet the Dalai Lama.

So when and where officials will formally undersign the deal remains a big unknown.

"There is a huge potential," said Matthieu Wolmark, who heads the China film festival.

"China is hoping to find partners to help make films for the international market as well as develop their own market," he told AFP. "French films would gain better access to Chinese cinemas. And costs are far lower than here."

China last year produced a record 402 feature films and box office receipts are increasing 20 percent per year on the back of home-made blockbusters such as John Woo's epic "Red Cliff" or Jet Li's "Warlords".

But of the 20 foreign movies released each year under revenue-sharing schemes, 10 are from the United States and only two from France, Europe's leading filmmaker.

A coproduction system, such as France has with around 45 nations, would allow French film-makers to release more films on the booming Chinese film market.

"But there is also a lot to be gained on the artistic front for both sides," said Wolmark. "The Chinese can use our technical knowhow but we can widen our horizons by working with an industry which is just taking off."

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