THE DALAI Lama has been warmly welcomed back in Tawang, a Himalayan town he first set foot in five decades ago while fleeing Chinese rule in his native Tibet. His visit, however, has angered Beijing.
Revered as a god-king by Tibetans but reviled by Beijing as a dangerous “splittist”, the visit of the Tibetan spiritual leader has rekindled Chinese sensitivities over allowing him to visit flashpoints so close to the region he fled as a boy in 1959.
The trip “once again exposes the nature of the Dalai Lama as anti-China,” was how China’s foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu put it last week.
For his part, the Dalai Lama insisted he was only seeking to promote religious values, peace and harmony. “My visit here is non-political,” he said on arrival.
China has ruled Tibet since the arrival of People’s Liberation Army troops in 1950, which it says freed the serfs and began a period of prosperity and stability for the region. It sees the Dalai Lama as a separatist and has pressed countries around the world not to extend official recognition to him.
Beijing says the Dalai Lama wants Tibetan independence and blames him for masterminding deadly anti-government riots there last year.
The Dalai Lama fled into exile five decades ago and has lived across the border in India since then, with the Tibetan government-in-exile setting up in Dharamsala in northern India.
His visit to the region, which is near the border with Tibet, comes barely a month after China lodged a protest with India over a trip to Arunachal Pradesh by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh.
India and China have been locked in a border dispute over the northeastern state since 1962. The two Asian neighbours are desperately fighting for economic and political power in the region.
This summer the Dalai Lama visited Taiwan, an area over which China also claims sovereignty. That visit also raised Chinese hackles.
During his stay in Tawang, the Dalai Lama will hold lectures on Buddhism and prayer meetings and devotees have come from all over the region. Hundreds of Buddhists from the Yellow Hat sect of Tibetan Buddhism came out to greet him.
The visit has also raised questions over who would succeed him as the region’s spiritual leader.
The area is of particular significance in Tibetan Buddhism, because Tawang is home to the Monpa tribe, who have strong ties to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.
The sixth Dalai Lama came from the region in the 17th century and China fears that if the next one is found here as well, he will be beyond Beijing’s control.
Tibetan exiles fear that if the Dalai Lama dies without nominating a successor, China might install its own choice as it did in the case of the Panchen Lama, the second-highest ranking Buddhist leader in Tibetan hierarchy, in 1995. One of the strongest candidates is the Karmapa Lama, the third-highest lama after the Dalai Lama, who escaped from a Tibetan monastery eight years ago and is being coached for a wider role. His position has also been recognised by Beijing, which could make him an acceptable compromise candidate.
Meanwhile, nine Uighurs have been executed for taking part in ethnic rioting that left nearly 200 people dead in July, the first suspects put to death since the unrest in Urumqi, in Xinjiang province.
Like the Tibetans, many Uighurs feel they are not treated well by Beijing.
The nine were put to death after a final review of the verdicts by the Supreme People’s Court. They were convicted of murder and other crimes during the riots.