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The Chinese government has been on something of a tear lately in its effort to compel governments to shun the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader. In recent years, pressure from Beijing has convinced political leaders in countries like Norway and Britain to snub him, at least in venues associated with visiting dignitaries.

But a decision by South Africa to deny the Dalai Lama a visa to attend a gathering of former Nobel laureates in Cape Town appears to have backfired in a way that is drawing increased scrutiny to China’s heavy-handed tactics.

Last week, South Africa was forced to cancel the 14th World Peace Summit, which had been scheduled to start Oct. 13, after nine former peace prize winners and 11 affiliated organizations announced they would boycott the conference. The event was billed as the largest gathering of Nobel laureates and was to be dedicated to Nelson Mandela, the late South African leader who was also a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. South Africa would have been the first African country to host the event.

Although there has been no announcement of an alternative location, an official with the summit meeting said on Friday that the event would probably be relocated to Rome.

On Thursday, the Dalai Lama, during a speech in India, criticized the snub, likening it to “bullying a simple person.”

The news has provoked a firestorm in South Africa, with one local newspaper, The Daily Maverick, calling the episode the “Dalai Lama Debacle.”

The cancellation of the event is expected to rob Cape Town of more than $5 million in economic activity, and it has intensified anger at President Jacob Zuma, who has been accused, once again, of bowing to Beijing over fears of endangering economic ties between the two countries.

Desmond Tutu, the anti-apartheid icon and himself a former Nobel laureate, issued a statement last week describing Mr. Zuma’s government as cowardly, using colorful language. “I am ashamed to call this lickspittle bunch my government,” he said.

In scathing comments to the South African news media, the mayor of Cape Town, Patricia de Lille, accused the government of misleading city officials about the Dalai Lama’s visa by claiming he had never applied for one. “President Zuma’s government has shamed the legacy of Madiba, and it is now more clear than ever that South Africa under President Zuma has lost its moral compass and will do anything to appease the Chinese government,” she said, using Mr. Mandela’s clan name.

On Friday, a presidential spokesman reiterated the government’s position that the Dalai Lama never had any intention of joining, a claim rejected by the Dalai Lama in public comments last week.

This marks the third time South Africa has denied the Dalai Lama a visa since 2009 — the year he wanted to attend a peace conference. In 2011, he wanted to travel to South Africa to celebrate Mr. Tutu’s 80th birthday. In 2012, a South African appeals court ruled that the government’s failure to provide the Dalai Lama a visa was “deliberate procrastination” and “unlawful.”

In recent years, the Dalai Lama has found his ability to travel around the world increasingly circumscribed. In 2007, he was asked to cancel his trip to Belgium ahead of a Belgian trade delegation’s visit to China, and earlier this year, the Norwegian prime minister and president of Parliament, citing China’s wrath, refused to meet with him during celebrations in Oslo for the 25th anniversary of the Nobel Peace Prize.

“The Chinese government appears to have a completely consistent policy on demanding countries to not accept the Dalai Lama,” said Robert Barnett, a professor of Tibetan studies at Columbia University. “It’s part of their ritual, their standard modus operandi in terms of visits.”

Mr. Zuma was apparently unmoved, despite a letter signed by 16 former Nobel laureates who urged him to grant the Dalai Lama a visa. Last month, more than 10,000 people also signed a petition blasting South Africa’s intransigence. “If the civilized world continues to bow under pressure to such a megalomaniacal regime, it only encourages and rewards such behavior in the future, and in turn undermines the progress of genuine progressive and harmonious relationship between nations,” the petition said.

Although they eventually lost the visa battle, many of the Dalai Lama’s supporters say they won the day by forcing the event to move elsewhere, delivering a very public rebuke to both Mr. Zuma and Beijing.

“This relocation is a big victory for truth and justice prevailing,” said Jigme Ugen, president of the Tibetan National Congress.