THE DALAI LAMA AND CHINA'S PLAY

Tibet is a sensitive issue in India-China relations, but pandering to Chinese demands is not the answer

- BY ASHOK K. KANTHA

On July 2, just before his 90th birthday, the 14th Dalai Lama issued a proclamation affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue. He entrusted his Gaden Phodrang Trust with exclusive authority to identify the 15th Dalai Lama, and barred any outside interference. Within hours, China’s foreign ministry denounced his proclamation as illegal under their 2007 ‘Measures on the Management of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas’, which mandate the Chinese government's approval for all high-Lama reincarnations. The fault line thus runs between two rival processes—one administered by the trust on Indian soil, the other to be orchestrated by the Chinese party-state.