Following the remarks from the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama on the possibility of his successor from India, China responded immediately that it will not recognize such a successor. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said at a press conference on Tuesday that the Dalai Lama successor has to be approved by it.
The Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama during a recent interview by the Reuters explained that his successor could come from India. His Holiness explained the possibility that China would appoint a candidate for the next Dalai Lama to assert their authority over the Tibetan Buddhists.
His Holiness explained in the interview that China considers the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation as something very important. They have more concern about the next Dalai Lama than him. In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas come, one from here, in free country, one chosen by Chinese, then nobody will trust, nobody will respect (the one chosen by China). So that’s an additional problem for the Chinese! It’s possible, it can happen.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said that the Chinese government has a policy of freedom of religious beliefs. He said that they have the regulation of religious affairs and regulations on the reincarnation of Tibetan Buddhism.
The spokesperson claimed that the current Dalai Lama was recognized and approved by the Central Government and the reincarnation of the current Dalai Lama should follow Beijing’s laws and regulations on religious matters. The Chinese authorities in the recent past formulated new regulations on Tibetan Buddhists by ordering the reincarnation of high lama to seek the government approval for reincarnation.
“The 14th Dalai also was recognized in the religious rituals and was approved by the Central government. So the reincarnation of Dalai Lama should be following the national laws and regulations and the religious rituals.” he added.