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China demands veto on Tibet's 'living buddhas'

By Richard Spencer, in Beijing
Last Updated: 12:52am BST 05/08/2007

The Sunday Telegraph

Chinese authorities demanded the right yesterday to veto the
reincarnation of "living buddhas", the holy figures most revered by the
Tibetan faithful.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2007/08/04/wtibet04.jpg
The exiled Dalai Lama is in his 14th incarnation

In a striking display of Beijing's determination to tighten control over
Tibet, a 14-chapter notice published by the state religious affairs
bureau set out "approval procedures" for new living buddhas and said
monasteries that did not follow them would be punished.

Supporters of the exiled Dalai Lama, the pre-eminent living buddha who
is 72 and currently in his 14th incarnation, will see the rules as an
ominous sign that the authorities are determined to appoint his
replacement when he dies.

In 1995, they put the six-year-old boy appointed by the Dalai as the new
Panchen Lama, the second-highest living buddha, under house arrest, and
announced their own candidate for the position.

The publication of the rules followed new restrictions placed on travel
by foreigners in Tibet and widespread reports of greater intrusion into
monastic life.
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Pro-Tibetan rights groups and the Tibetan government-in-exile said they
were intended to discourage protests and public displays of anti-Chinese
feeling in the run-up to next year's Beijing Olympics. But they also
coincided with rumours that the "Chinese Panchen" may have begun to
resist co-operating with the authorities.

The rumours, said to be prevalent in Tibetan areas, were triggered by
his failure to appear in public for three months, though he visited a
temple near Beijing last weekend and overseas Tibetan representatives
said they had found no evidence to back up the story.

The Communist Party has fought a running battle for control over Tibet's
monasteries since the region was "liberated" by the People's Liberation
Army in 1951.

Apart from the opposition represented by the Dalai Lama, some local
lamas have also defied the authorities.

Many monasteries, particularly in ethnic Tibetan areas outside the
officially designated "Tibetan Autonomous Region", continue to venerate
photographs of the Dalai despite orders not to do so, while even in the
major temples in Lhasa there are regular signs of dissent.

In 2005, the authorities began a campaign to try to force monks to
denounce the Dalai in the name of "patriotic education".

The latest regulations are similar to those governing the appointment of
bishops, which is the root cause of the refusal of the Vatican to
recognise the official Chinese Catholic Church.

Tashing Tseri, the London spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile,
said the new controls showed that the authorities lacked confidence in
their claim that their rule was popular.

"In the past they always maintained that the people in Tibet are very
happy but people can go and see for themselves," he said. "In a peaceful
way people are showing their dislike for Chinese rule, and the
authorities are getting desperate."

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