A Bloomberg News report on Saturday, it explained after a rare Tibet trip explained that China only wants a Dalai Lama it can control. While the Tibetan spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama who has been living in exile since 1959 recently celebrated his 83rd birthday in India.
The writer shares the experience of an International journalists trip to the Tibetan plateau hosted by the local Chinese government while the officials or people loyal to the Communist party replied that the party has done just fine running Tibet with double digit economy growth, the writer also experienced that the Dalai Lama is still held in esteem by many as a spiritual leader.
As the Chinese government accuses the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader of separatism and accusing the Tibetan exile administration’s demand for a genuine autonomy within the Chinese government as insincere, the Chinese government in contrary has been laying stones from their part in claiming their right to select the next Dalai Lama.
The report also explained that after the death of the 10th Panchen Lama in 1989, both the Chinese government identified a reincarnation against the one identified by the Dalai Lama. Later on back in 1995, the Panchen Lama chosen by the Dalai Lama was abducted by the Chinese government at the age of six and his whereabouts has never been heard of since then. The man selected by Beijing as the 11th Panchen Lama is now a senior adviser to the nation’s parliament.
Even though most of people encountered by the writer during the trip met their questions about the Dalai Lama met with polite reticence, the reverence he still commands was noticeable. Several local officials said he’s still held in esteem by many as a spiritual leader.
Supporters of the current Dalai Lama fear that upon his death, there will be two claimants to the position: one selected by them and another by the Chinese government in a similar manner it manipulated with the Panchen Lama, the most prominent figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama.