China accuses US of using UN to 'meddle' in Tibet

Wednesday 13th November 2019 06:12 EST
 

BEIJING: China has accused the US of using the United Nations to "meddle" in Tibet, as

Washington intensifies its bid to prevent Beijing from handpicking the Dalai Lama's successor. Last week, Sam Brownback, the United States' ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, said the US wanted the UN to take up the succession issue of the Tibetan spiritual leader. The choice of the Dalai Lama's successor "belongs to the Tibetan Buddhists and not with Chinese government", Brownback said. But Beijing, irked by the comment accused the US of attempting to "meddle in China's internal affairs under the pretext of religious freedoms".

"It is doomed to fail and will certainly be met with opposition from the international community," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in Beijing. China - which argues it has brought modernisation and development to the Himalayan region - has increasingly hinted it could name the next Dalai Lama, who would presumably be groomed to support Chinese rule. The Chinese government has also indicated it is waiting out the Dalai Lama, believing his campaign for greater Tibetan autonomy will end with him.

At 84, Dalai Lama who once travelled incessantly has slowed down and earlier this year suffered a chest infection, although he is not known to have serious health issues. In 1995, the officially atheist government selected its own Panchen Lama and detained a six-year-old identified for the influential Buddhist position - whom rights groups called the world's youngest political prisoner. Mindful of Beijing's plans, the 14th Dalai Lama has mused about breaking with the centuries-old tradition in which wandering monks look for signs that a young boy is the reincarnation. The Nobel Peace Prize winner has said that he could pick his own successor, possibly a girl, or even declare himself the final Dalai Lama.

The US wants the United Nations to take up the Dalai Lama’s succession in an intensifying bid to stop China from trying to handpick his successor, an envoy said after meeting the Tibetan spiritual leader. Brownback said he spoke at length about the succession issue with Dalai Lama in the monk’s home-in-exile at Dharamsala.

Brownback said he told the Dalai Lama that the US would seek to build global support for the principle that the choice of the next spiritual chief “belongs to the Tibetan Buddhists and not the Chinese government. I would hope that the UN would take the issue up,” Brownback said after returning to Washington. He acknowledged that China, with its veto power on the Security Council, would work strenuously to block any action, but he hoped countries could at least raise their voices at the United Nations. “I think it’s really important to have an early global conversation because this is a global figure with a global impact,” he said.


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