Tibetan Reincarnated Successor Need Approval From China Atheist Communist Regime, Says Official

AFP, Mar. 7, 2010-

BEIJING — China indicated Sunday it would take a hard line on the selection of a successor to the ageing Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in rare comments on the sensitive issue.

The final decision on the reincarnated successors to the Buddhist region’s top lamas lies with Beijing, insisted Qiangba Puncog, Tibet’s former governor and a delegate to the national parliament.

“It must get the approval of the central government otherwise the reincarnation will be illegitimate and invalid,” he told reporters on the sidelines of China’s National People’s Congress session.

Traditionally, the search for the figure’s reincarnated successor was conducted by the region’s high lamas.

But China’s officially atheist Communist Party-ruled government has claimed the right to intervene, citing a precedent set by a past emperor.

The issue of who will succeed the monk looms as potentially explosive after an outburst of anti-Chinese violence tore through the region in March 2008, prompting a tight security clampdown, which continues.

China vilifies the exiled monk as a separatist. He denies this and remains hugely popular in his Himalayan homeland. Many Tibet experts believe China is waiting for him to die and then install its own Tibetan spiritual leader.

Amid such worries, the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize winner said last month he would have no misgivings ending the centuries-old spiritual tradition if Tibetans so choose.

“(Its) ultimately up to people, I made clear, whether this very institution should continue or not,” the 14th Dalai Lama told National Public Radio on a visit to Los Angeles.

“If majority of Tibetan people feel the Dalai institution is no longer much relevant, then this institution should cease — there is no problem.

“It looks like the Chinese are more concerned about this institution than me,” he said with a laugh.

The Dalai Lama, who fled his Chinese-ruled homeland in 1959, turns 75 in July and is believed to be in good health.

He has said his successor could be appointed before his death or democratically elected. The Dalai Lama could also, he has said, be reincarnated in exile — out of Beijing’s reach……. (more from AFP)