The two Panchen Lamas: China's role in Tibet and the clash with the Dalai Lama

Weeks before the Dalai Lama ruled out China's role in choosing his successor, President Xi Jinping met a Tibetan Buddhist monk installed three decades ago by Beijing as the faith's No. 2 leader, the Panchen Lama. The monk was appointed after the six-year-old chosen by the Dalai Lama for the position disappeared. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here.

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The June 6 meeting, in which the Panchen Lama affirmed his support for the Communist Party, and the Dalai Lama's rejection this week of a role for China in his reincarnation underline the schism between Beijing and the Buddhist spiritual leader, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet. China considers the Dalai Lama a separatist and wants to bring Tibetan Buddhism under its control but the Dalai Lama and his huge following have been obstacles to that ambition. The declaration by the Dalai Lama that he will be reincarnated was welcomed by his followers as signifying the continuation of the 600-year-old institution central to Tibetan Buddhism. But many of them also fear Beijing will use his eventual death and succession to split the faith, with one new Dalai Lama named by followers of the Dalai Lama and one by the government. The possibility is not lost on the Dalai Lama, who told Reuters in 2019 that "in case you see two Dalai Lamas come ... nobody will respect (the one chosen by China)".