The Buddhist spiritual leader His Holiness the Dalai Lama in an exclusive interview told that Tibetans will never accept a successor appointed by China. His Holiness spoke for an exclusive interview by Nitin Gokhale from StratNews Global at his residence of Ganden Phelgyeling Monastery in Bodhgaya on Sunday.
“The next Dalai Lama if chosen by the Chinese will not be acceptable to the Tibetan community. This assertion has come from the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, whose advancing years have led to considerable speculation about his successor in recent years.” said the report by StratNews Global on Sunday.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama explained that although China occupied Tibet, they can never control the Tibetans mentally. “Physically, the Chinese have occupied Tibet but at the mental level they can never control us… The Chinese control Tibet through weapons, we influence their minds. Our influence is stronger than their weapons.”
His Holiness has further noted that “modern times call for a democratically elected political leadership so I’ve already sort of retired and we’ve achieved, at least within our within our refugee community an elected political leadership,” which refers to the publicly elected head of the Central Tibetan Administration in Dharamsala through elections in exile.
Explaining the political system in China, “If the Chinese allow, but then the Chinese won’t allow… their own leader is not through free elections,” referring to the utter impossibility of a democratic election in either Tibet or China. As far as democratic practices are concerned, we a handful of Tibetans are more advanced as we have a freely elected political leadership. China has a totalitarian system.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama further in the interview commended the determination of Tibetan people. He remarked that the determination of the new generation of Tibetans is as strong as the previous generation. “Tibetan determination is very firm. The new generation’s determination is as strong as that of the previous generations.”
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