The two Panchen Lamas: China's role in Tibet and the clash with the Dalai Lama

10 months ago

Beijing/Dharamshala: Weeks before the Dalai Lama ruled out China's role in choosing his successor, President Xi Jinping met a Tibetan Buddhist monk installed three decades ago by Beijing as the faith's No. 2 leader, the Panchen Lama. The monk was appointed after the six-year-old chosen by the Dalai Lama for the position disappeared.

The June 6 meeting, in which the Panchen Lama affirmed his support for the Communist Party, and the Dalai Lama's rejection this week of a role for China in his reincarnation underline the schism between Beijing and the Buddhist spiritual leader, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet.

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