-Human Rights Watch
Communist Party Aims to Control Dalai Lama Selection.
In late November, a senior local Chinese Communist Party official toured three townships in Sog, a county in the Tibet Autonomous Region that has a history of resistance to state controls on religion. His goal: to ensure local Tibetan officials endorse government policies on the recognition of Tibetan Buddhist incarnations.
Attendees at these sessions included “over 120 township officials, staff of monastery management committees, village-based cadres, village officials, local police, [and] schoolteachers,” according to state media. Participants “unanimously declared their willingness to follow laws and regulations concerning Tibetan Buddhist incarnation affairs.”
Since 2007, Chinese authorities have imposed regulations limiting the recognition of reincarnate lamas, which include most of the religious leaders in Tibetan Buddhism. These provisions specify that reincarnations may not be recognized without state approval and must be born within China’s borders. Click here to read more.