The spiritual leader is chosen through a Tibetan, Buddhist concept

China has reiterated that it will choose the successor to Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader through drawing of lots from the ‘golden urn’ in Lhasa. It has also asserted that the selected candidate should have approval of the Chinese government, thus curtailing the scope of the current Dalai Lamato choose his successor himself. The policy paper stated that reincarnation of Dalai Lama and other living Buddhas had to be approved by Central Government in China as laid down in an ordinance passed by the Qing dynasty of China between 1644 and 1911. The ordinance also lays down the procedure to be followed to draw lots from the ‘golden urn’. China has also stated that there should be no interference in the matter by India or any other foreign country. The current, Fourteenth Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, has refuted the Chinese insistence. The President-elect of the Tibetan government in exile, Penpa Tsering, said the Chinese government has no role in choosing the next Dalai Lama as Chinese communist leaders do not believe in religion and a successor of the Tibetan spiritual leader is chosen through a Tibetan Buddhist concept which is a religious matter.

The Biden administration in the US has clarified that the Chinese government should have no role in selecting the new Dalai Lama. In December last, the then US President Donald Trump signed the Tibet Policy and Support Act which strengthened support for autonomous conduct of Tibetan affairs and called for establishment of US consulate in Lhasa. It was passed in the wake of massive Chinese indoctrination efforts and establishment of military camps in Tibet .The Act also reaffirmed the right of Tibetans to choose the successor to their spiritual leader and mandated sanctions on Chinese officials who interfere in the selection. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchan Lama is also held in high esteem, next only to Dalai Lama. After death of 10th Panchan Lama under suspicious circumstances in China, a list of possible candidates for next Panchan Lama was sent to Dalai Lama living in exile in India in 1995. On 15th May that year he announced that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima had been recognised as the 11th Panchan Lama.The Chinese government rejected the Dalai Lama’s candidate as illegal and invalid; two days later it abducted the child and his family. Nothing is known of them since them.. Six months later China it announced that it had found the real reincarnation, Gyaltsen Norbu.

China’s disregard for international law and muscular approach to usurp rights of minorities is a potential factor that can disturb peace not only in the region, but in whole world. The world cannot afford to China resorting to sabre-rattling and economically exploiting smaller countries through its neocolonialism, the latest example being Bangladesh. Meanwhile, China continues with its pogrom in Tibet in thename of development. It is one thing to bring modernity and inculcate scientific temper, but an altogether different matter to deny religious rights and cut people off from their religious moorings and institutions. Tibet is the largest province of China, the only one with land borders with India. Developments in Tibet have ramifications for India also. China wants to suppress the Buddhist minority there for its own narrow ends but as a free,democratic country and its  history,. It should have no difficulty in Tibetan refugees and the Tibetan Government in exile in India.

(The author a former IIS officer and  producer. The views expressed are personal