China on Tuesday said its approval is must for choosing the successor to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, rejecting the US\u2019 assertion that the next-in-line to Tibet\u2019s exiled leader will be selected by the Tibetan people themselves and not by Beijing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, who met the Dalai Lama in Dharmsala on Monday, hit out at what he called China\u2019s \u201cpersecution\u201d of the Tibetan people\u2019s faith and said they have the right to choose their own religious leaders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe role of picking a successor to the Dalai Lama belongs to the Tibetan Buddhist system, the Dalai Lama, and other Tibetan leaders. It does not belong to anybody else, not any government or any entity,\u201d Brownback was quoted as saying by Radio Free Asia .<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Concerns over the health of 84-year-old Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India following a failed 1959 Tibetan revolt against Chinese rule, have renewed uncertainties over his possible successor after his demise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked for his reaction to Brownback\u2019s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here that the envoy\u2019s comments amounted to interference in China\u2019s internal affairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe 14th Dalai Lama, who is in political exile, has long been carrying out anti-China activities overseas under the pretext of religion,\u201d Geng said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cChina firmly opposes any contact with the Dalai Lama by any foreign official. The words and deeds of a certain US official violates US commitment to recognise Tibet as part of China, and not to support Tibetan independence. China firmly opposes such words and deeds,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Chinese government implements the policy of freedom of religious belief. The reincarnations system is respected and protected by certain legal instruments such as the Regulations on Religious Affairs and the measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe institution of reincarnation of the Dalai Lama has been in existence for several hundred years. The 14th (present) Dalai Lama himself was found and recognised following religious rituals and historic conventions, and his succession was approved by the then central government. Therefore, the reincarnation must comply with Chinese laws and regulations, follow religious rituals and historic conventions,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe strongly urge the US to stop contact with the Dalai Lama group, stop uttering irresponsible remarks, stop using Tibet related affairs to interfere in China\u2019s internal affairs, and do more to contribute to mutual trust and cooperation between China and the US,\u201d Geng said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Significantly, Brownback also called on the Chinese government to release the Dalai Lama-appointed Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, who has been replaced by Beijing in 1995. He has since then disappeared and his whereabouts are not known.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China on Tuesday said its approval is must for choosing the successor to Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, rejecting the US\u2019 assertion that the next-in-line to Tibet\u2019s exiled leader will be selected by the Tibetan people themselves and not by Beijing. US Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, who met the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73395,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73394"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73394\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73396,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73394\/revisions\/73396"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}