China will not allow external interference in Dalai Lama's reincarnation process, Beijing's envoy to Delhi says

New Delhi: China will not allow external forces to interfere in the reincarnation process of Tibetan Buddhist monks, Beijing’s envoy to New Delhi, Xu Feihong, said, reacting to India’s Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju’s endorsement of the 14th Dalai Lama’s move to keep the government of the communist country away from the selection of his successor.

“The Chinese government upholds the principle of independence and self-governance in religious affairs and administers the reincarnation of Living Buddhas, including that of the Dalai Lama, in accordance with the law,” Xu posted on the social media platform X on Sunday, adding: “No interference by any external forces will be allowed”.

He stressed that the conferment of their religious status and titles is the prerogative of the central government of China. “The reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama is inherently an internal affair of China,” added China’s ambassador to India.

Earlier in the day, Rijiju, along with Union Minister for Panchayati Raj Rajiv Ranjan Singh and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu, attended the celebration of the 14th Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday at Dharamshala – the seat of the Tibetan Government in Exile in India. He reiterated his support for the Dalai Lama’s recent decision to entrust a trust. the Gaden Phodrang Trust he had set up in India in 2011, with the full responsibility of finding his reincarnation.

“As a devotee myself, and on behalf of all the millions of devotees across the world, I want to emphatically state that whatever decision is taken by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, according to established convention and tradition, we will fully abide by it and we will follow the directions and guidelines to be issued by the institution of Dalai Lama,” Rijiju said in Dharamshala on Sunday, with the 90-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monk himself on the podium.

The 14th Dalai Lama, earlier this week, not only confirmed that the institution of the Dalai Lama would continue beyond his lifetime, but also announced that no one else but the Gaden Phodrang Trust would have the sole authority to recognise his future reincarnation. His announcement was a move to counter Beijing’s bid to influence the process of selecting his reincarnation, its plan to prop up a claimant loyal to it, and use him to fizzle out the global movement against China’s rule over Tibet.

Beijing strongly reacted to the Dalai Lama’s statement from Dharamshala in India, insisting that the reincarnations of the Living Buddhas of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition must have the approval of the government of China.

“(The) Chinese government opposes any attempts by overseas organisations or individuals to interfere in or dictate the reincarnation process. Xizang (Tibet) is an inalienable part of China's territory,” Beijing’s envoy to New Delhi wrote on X. “Tibetan Buddhism traces its origins to China's Qinghai-Tibet plateau. The primary regions where Tibetan Buddhism is practised are within China. The lineage of the Dalai Lamas took shape and evolved within China's Tibet region.”