Alex Salmond has been accused of ”snubbing” the Dalai Lama by not arranging to meet him during next week’s historic visit to Scotland.
Thousands of Scots will flock to see the Tibetan spiritual leader during the tour, which includes a public lecture in Dundee next Friday.
A notable figure absent from the guest list will be the First Minister, with sources close to the visit insisting three separate approaches have been quietly rebuffed.
The claim, which was denied by a spokesman for Mr Salmond, came in the wake of China reacting angrily to Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to meet the Buddhist spiritual leader last month.
Labour drew attention to Mr Salmond’s close relationship with China and said the matter raised questions about his judgment.
It is understood organisers of the Scottish visit initially expected the First Minister would attend an event hosted by Presiding Officer Tricia Marwick at the Scottish Parliament next Friday.
But it has now emerged Mr Salmond is to miss the Holyrood reception and instead take part in a meeting of the British Irish Council scheduled for the same day.
The Courier has been told two further unofficial invitations to meet the Dalai Lama, including the offer of a private meeting, have also been rejected by the SNP leader, who will spend much of next week in the US.
One source said Mr Salmond had ”backed off” from meeting the Dalai Lama since the visit was first arranged over a year ago. The trip to America was ”very convenient”, the source added.
Mr Salmond has worked hard to foster close links with China, with the relationship between the two countries culminating last year in the loaning of two giant pandas to Edinburgh Zoo.
Labour MSP Patricia Ferguson said: ”It is extremely sad that the First Minister will not meet a man who is universally recognised as an international ambassador for peace.
”Alex Salmond was rightly criticised for refusing to raise the issue of human rights on his recent tour of China, so this snub raises further questions about his judgment.”
A media spokesman for the visit of the Dalai Lama to Scotland said there was still the ”opportunity” for the two men to meet next week.
Responding to the row, a spokesman for Mr Salmond said: ”The First Minister has only received one invitation, and that was to be part of the audience when the Dalai Lama received an award in London on the 14th of May when in any event the First Minister was in Norway on official business.
”Next week the Dalai Lama is in Scotland on a pastoral visit as a religious leader. He is being properly recognised at a meeting hosted by the presiding officer in Queensberry House on behalf of the faith communities on a non-political basis.
”This is a perfectly appropriate and respectful way to receive an international religious figure.”
The spokesman added: “Of course, these arrangements are a matter for the presiding officer not government and given the nature of the event our understanding is that no party politicians have been invited.
“In any case, the First Minister, who leaves for the US this weekend, returns in order to chair the British Irish Council in Stirling next Friday.”
China has ruled Tibet since 1950, and the Chinese government has repeatedly accused exiled Tibetans, including the Dalai Lama, of stoking dissent against its rule.
The spiritual leader fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising.
The 76-year-old will visit Dundee on June 22 to deliver the Margaret Harris Lecture on religion as a guest of Dundee University and Dundee City Council.
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