{"id":87568,"date":"2024-06-25T15:48:29","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T05:48:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=87568"},"modified":"2024-06-25T15:48:29","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T05:48:29","slug":"china-must-not-choose-the-next-dalai-lama","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-must-not-choose-the-next-dalai-lama\/","title":{"rendered":"China must not choose the next Dalai Lama"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, visits the United States for medical treatment on his knees, concerns over who will succeed him have become acute. While Tibetans around the world pray that the 88-year-old Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, still has plenty of life ahead of him, China is eagerly awaiting his demise, so that it can install a puppet successor.<\/p>\n

Tibetans regard the Dalai Lama as the living incarnation of Buddha. Since 1391, the Dalai Lama has been\u00a0reincarnated 13 times. When one Dalai Lama dies, the search for the next one begins, with a council of senior disciples taking responsibility for identifying him, based on signs and visions. But in recent years, the Chinese government has insisted that only it has the right to identify the next Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n

This would not be the first time China selected a leader of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1995, it anointed its own Panchen Lama, whose spiritual authority is second only to that of the Dalai Lama, after abducting the actual Panchen Lama, a six-year-old boy who had already been confirmed by the Dalai Lama. Almost three decades later, the real Panchen Lama is among the world\u2019s\u00a0longest-serving political prisoners.<\/p>\n

China also appointed the Karmapa, Tibetan Buddhism\u2019s third most important spiritual leader and the head of the Karma Kagyu sect. But in 1999, its appointee, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, fled to India. The ease with which the 14-year-old Karmapa escaped China raised\u00a0suspicions\u00a0among Indians about his loyalties. After imposing travel restrictions on him, India decided in 2018\u00a0no longer\u00a0to recognise the China-anointed Karmapa as the legitimate head of his sect. Now, he and his\u00a0rival Karmapa, Trinley Thaye Dorje, have issued a\u00a0joint statement\u00a0pledging to cooperatively resolve the leadership split in the Karma Kagyu sect.<\/p>\n

But the Dalai Lama is China\u2019s white whale. The incumbent, who was identified as the Dalai Lama in 1937, at age two, has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese Communist Party since China\u2019s 1951 annexation of Tibet. With his relentless espousal of non-violence, the Dalai Lama, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, embodies Tibetan resistance to the Chinese occupation. (Had Tibet remained self-governing, like Taiwan, it would be the world\u2019s\u00a0tenth-largest country\u00a0by area.)<\/p>\n

In his past incarnations, the Dalai Lama was not only Tibet\u2019s spiritual leader, but also its political leader, making him a kind of cross between a pope and a president. But the Dalai Lama\u00a0ceded\u00a0his political role in 2011 to a Tibetan government-in-exile, which is democratically elected every five years by Tibetan refugees living in India and elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the Dalai Lama has declared that he might choose not to be reborn\u2014a decision that would undermine the legitimacy of any Chinese-anointed successor. He knows that, for China, a Dalai Lama devoted to the CCP is much more useful than no Dalai Lama at all. He also knows that, while he has retained his mental acuity, his body is weakening. In 2016, he\u00a0underwent\u00a0radiation therapy for prostate cancer. He says he was completely cured, but he continues to struggle with his\u00a0knees. Given his advanced age, more health problems are to be expected.<\/p>\n

The Dalai Lama\u2019s frailty is one reason why his travel schedule has slowed considerably. But it is not the only one: bowing to Chinese pressure, most countries\u2014including European democracies and Asia\u2019s Buddhist states (except\u00a0Japan)\u2014are unwilling to grant him entry. Fortunately, some countries have retained their backbones. The US is hosting the Dalai Lama for knee treatment, and India has proudly\u00a0been his home\u00a0for more than 65 years. India has officially\u00a0designated\u00a0the Dalai Lama its \u2018most esteemed and honored guest\u2019, while the Tibetan leader describes himself as a \u2018son of India\u2019.<\/p>\n

In fact, India is home to the vast majority of Tibetan exiles, and has played a central role in helping to\u00a0preserve\u00a0the Tibetan culture, including by supporting Tibetan-language schools. By contrast, China has been working actively to\u00a0destroy\u00a0Tibetan culture and identity, especially since President Xi Jinping has been\u00a0in charge.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, China\u2019s appropriation of Tibetan\u00a0natural resources\u00a0has gone into overdrive, with consequences that extend far beyond the Tibetan Plateau. Resource-rich Tibet is a source of fresh water for more than\u00a0one-fifth\u00a0of the world\u2019s population and a global biodiversity\u00a0hotspot. The plateau influences Asia\u2019s weather and monsoonal patterns, as well as the northern hemisphere\u2019s atmospheric general circulation\u2014the system of winds that helps\u00a0transport warm air\u00a0from the equator toward higher latitudes, creating different climate zones.<\/p>\n

It is imperative that the US and India work together to foil China\u2019s plan to handpick the next Dalai Lama. Already, America\u2019s\u00a0Tibetan Policy and Support Act, which took effect in 2020, says that \u2018the wishes of the 14th Dalai Lama, including any written instructions, should play a determinative role in the selection, education, and veneration of a future 15th Dalai Lama.\u2019 And it calls for sanctions on Chinese officials who interfere with Tibetan Buddhist succession practices.<\/p>\n

But more must be done. For starters, President\u00a0Joe Biden\u00a0should take the opportunity presented by the Dalai Lama\u2019s knee treatment to fulfill a 2020\u00a0campaign promise\u00a0to meet him. More broadly, the US should work with India to devise a multilateral strategy to counter Xi\u2019s plan to capture the more than 600-year-old institution of the Dalai Lama. This must include efforts to persuade the Dalai Lama to\u00a0spell out, once and for all, the rules that must be followed to identify his successor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, visits the United States for medical treatment on his knees, concerns over who will succeed him have become acute. While Tibetans around the world pray that …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":482,"featured_media":87569,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-87568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nChina must not choose the next Dalai Lama | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/china-must-not-choose-the-next-dalai-lama\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"China must not choose the next Dalai Lama | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet, visits the United States for medical treatment on his knees, concerns over who will succeed him have become acute. 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