India's ties with Beijing, and the Tibetan factor

Just short of his ninetieth birthday, the Dalai Lama announced, after years of speculation, that he will have a successor.

- HARSHA KAKAR

He mentioned in a pre-recorded video, "I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue. The Gaden Phodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation; no one else has any authority to interfere in this matter." The hint was at China, which has been insisting that it will determine the next Dalai Lama. China has been waiting patiently for years for this moment.

The Gaden Phodran is a Swiss non-profit, tax-exempt institution founded by the current Dalai Lama in 2015, based in India but registered in Zurich. Hence, the institution of the Dalai Lama would continue practices of 'Tibetan Buddhism' implying there would be no role of China.

There were immediate reactions from China and their ambassador in India. The Chinese spokesperson in Beijing mentioned that the next Dalai Lama must be born in 'mainland China,' adding that the succession must "comply with Chinese laws and regulations, as well as religious rituals and historical conventions." She even mentioned adopting the Golden Urn concept where lots were drawn amongst multiple contenders, followed during the Qing dynasty in the 1790s.

The Chinese ambassador to India, Xu Feihong tweeted, "The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must follow the process that consists of search and identification in China, lot-drawing from the Golden Urn, and central government approval, and comply with religious rituals and historical conventions as well as Chinese laws and regulations."

Clearly, the Chinese are rattled as their control over Tibet, despite decades of crackdowns and pushing an anti-Dalai Lama narrative, is far from successful. There are reports in western media of Tibetan children, many as young as four, being forcibly taken to Chinese boarding schools, taught Mandarin and indoctrinated into communism. There are inputs of them being punished for wearing Buddhist blessing cords or speaking in Tibetan.