China Wants To Have A Say In Electing Dalai Lama’s Successor

Frankly speaking, from a Chinese perspective two things are important. First that is important as to who is finally elected as Dalai Lama’s successor. And secondly, the fact that the XI Jinping-led country has a say in electing the major spiritual leader.

This last Tuesday, breaking news updates from around the world carried a rather strange update. They shared that China wants to have a say in the matter of the election of Dalai Lama’s successor.

And here is the fact of the matter. The Dalai Lama, someone who’s holy and wholly respected around the world has often caused a storm in the eye of China.

As the Oriental power has begun to exert and exhibit more muscle in dictating terms in Tibet, a country that is geographically and fundamentally not a part of China in any capacity, there’s been no dearth in the growing distance between the vastly respected spiritual leader from Tibet and China, a great oppressor who wants to enjoy territorial supremacy over a country it has got no roots in.

And what is rather controversial from the global standpoint is that China has rubbished the idea forwarded by the US and the people of Tibet who want to elect Dalai Lama’s successor on their own, minus any kind of Chinese influence.

It’s no surprise that in the last several decades put together, the ailing Dalai Lama, post an unsuccessful revolt against growing Chinese influence in Tibet, has been living all around the world in a state of exile. His has been a life that’s been forever mired in some form of existential trouble.

But the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile needs to have a permanent and peaceful solution without China’s influence in any manner. Whether that happens someday or not is not known and may even seem unlikely according to a few.

But what’s known is that China may not stop meddling in Tibetan affairs.

Popular Indian news portal The Indian Express carried some interesting insights into the developing story and happened to share the following:

China claims control over the selection, asserting that the successor to the Dalai Lama has to be endorsed by it.

Asked for his reaction to Brownback’s comments, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told media here that the envoy’s comments amounted to interference in China’s internal affairs.

“The 14th Dalai Lama is in political exile who has long been carrying out anti-China activities overseas under the pretext of religion,” Geng said.

“China firmly opposes any contact with the Dalai Lama by any foreign official. The words and deeds of a certain US official violate US commitment to recognize Tibet as part of China, and not to support Tibetan independence. China firmly opposes such words and deeds,” he said.

But that said, here’s what one ought to know. The present Dalai Lama, the 14th in the line of the top Tibetan spiritual leaders has (also) been approved by the Chinese state. One wonders whether this comes across as a bit of a surprise to a few among us!

But fundamentally, there’s nothing substantive anywhere that must contradict the Tibetan way of electing their own spiritual master leader. Any decision pertaining to electing the Dalai Lama’s successor should remain with the (current) Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist masters as well as the people of Tibet. Why have any external influence in Tibet’s own affairs?