KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AP) - The Dalai Lama has led thousands of Taiwanese in a colorful prayer service for the survivors of a typhoon that killed an estimated 670 people last month.
     
On Tuesday, the Tibetan Buddhist leader old told some 10,000 worshippers at a sports arena in southern Taiwan that it was possible "to vanquish the atmosphere of the disaster."
     
The Dalai Lama is broadly respected on the mostly Buddhist island of 23 million people, but China protested his visit to what it considers Chinese territory.
     
China reviles the Dalai Lama because he has a large international following and has managed to keep its heavy-handed rule over Tibet in the spotlight.

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AP-NY-09-02-09 0351EDT