THE CHINESE government has named the Panchen Lama, the young man controversially enthroned by Beijing as the second-highest figure in Tibetan Buddhism, as a delegate to the country’s top legislative advisory body, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).
The appointment to the CPPCC of the 20-year-old Panchen Lama, whose name is Gyaltsen Norbu and who has long been earmarked Beijing’s choice to usurp the Dalai Lama as the public face of Tibetan Buddhism, has given a broader significance to the National People’s Congress (NPC), China’s largely ceremonial annual parliament.
The young monk has appeared with communist party leaders and publicly praised Chinese rule in Tibet, and vowed to contribute to “the blueprint of the compatible development of Tibetan Buddhism and socialism.”
Last month he was voted vice-president of the nation’s Buddhist Association, and the Xinhua news agency reported how he promised to “uphold the leadership of the communist party of China” and “adhere to socialism, safeguard national unification, strengthen ethnic unity and expand Buddhist exchanges”.
Comments like these have made the Panchen Lama a controversial figure, not widely accepted by Tibetans. Another boy, Gendun Choekyi Nyima, was named as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama by the Dalai Lama in 1995. The boy and his family disappeared soon after and have not been heard from since, and are believed to be under house arrest in Beijing.
China says that Tibet is, was and always has been part of its territory for centuries, although many Tibetans dispute this.
The Panchen Lama has taken on an increasingly political role in recent years, and was in the frame to be a delegate to the CPPCC a couple of years ago, but was thought to be too young.
Chinese troops occupied Tibet following the 1949 communist revolution, sending the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, into exile in India in 1959 after a failed coup against Chinese rule.
The Communist government in Beijing considers the Dalai Lama to be a dangerous separatist. The Dalai Lama says he merely seeks greater autonomy.
The NPC is taking place at a time when thoughts in Tibet are turning to the second anniversary of the demonstrations against Chinese rule across Tibetan areas within the Tibetan autonomous region and in neighbouring provinces.