Lin, who also serves as senior vice president at the lender, last month reiterated his hopes of returning to Taiwan, where he was born, despite still being wanted over the escape.

Taiwan's defence ministry has repeatedly said that Lin remains a "lawbreaker" and would be arrested and tried should he ever return. In theory, he could face the death penalty if tried and convicted.

However, master Hsing Yun, head of the influential Buddhist organisation Fo Guang Shan, called on the government to pardon Lin on the grounds of "humanitarianism, mercy and forgiveness".

"I hope he can be forgiven by (Taiwanese) society so he can return to his family. After all Taiwan is a progressing democratic society and we should treat the matter with a broader mind," Hsing Yun said.

Lin was a 26-year-old company commander in the Taiwan military stationed on Kinmen island near the Chinese mainland when in 1979 he swam the 2,000 metres (yards) to the communist side.

He arrived in China at the dawn of its opening up under Deng Xiaoping and played a key role in the country's economic modernisation before taking up his international career.

For many years Lin was not officially listed as a defector but as "missing", as his flight was considered an embarrassment.

However in 2002 he was put on a wanted list after he applied to return to Taiwan for his father's funeral.

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

The Buddhist monk made the allegation in an interview with Britain's Sunday Telegraph, saying he had been told that agents were planning to poison him using Tibetan women posing as devotees seeking his blessing.

"The Dalai Lama always engages in anti-China splittist activities globally wearing his religious cloak, spreading false information, deceiving the world and confusing the public," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

"His most recent statement is not even worth refuting," he told reporters Monday.

Beijing routinely accuses the Dalai Lama of seeking to split Tibet from the rest of China -- a claim the Nobel Peace Prize laureate denies, saying he only seeks greater autonomy for the Himalayan region.

Many Tibetans in China complain of political and religious persecution under Chinese rule -- which Beijing denies -- and this resentment has been blamed for a spate of self-immolations in Tibetan-inhabited areas since last year.

In his interview with the Sunday Telegraph, the Dalai Lama said he was told the Tibetan women supposedly trying to kill him would have their "hair poisoned and their scarf poisoned".

"They were supposed to seek blessing from me, and my hand touch," he said, adding on a visit to London on Monday that there was "no possibility to cross-check, so I don't know".

The Dalai Lama met with British Prime Minister David Cameron Monday, before receiving a 1.1 million pound ($1.8 million) prize honouring his efforts to encourage "serious scientific investigative reviews of the power of compassion". He said he would donate the Templeton Prize to charity.