China indicates hard line on Dalai Lama succession

China indicated Sunday it would take a hard line on the selection of a successor to the ageing Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in rare comments on the sensitive issue.

The final decision on the reincarnated successors to the Buddhist region’s top lamas lies with Beijing, insisted Qiangba Puncog, Tibet’s former governor and a delegate to the national parliament.

“It must get the approval of the central government otherwise the reincarnation will be illegitimate and invalid,” he told reporters on the sidelines of China’s National People’s Congress session.

Traditionally, the search for the figure’s reincarnated successor was conducted by the region’s high lamas.

But China’s officially atheist Communist Party-ruled government has claimed the right to intervene, citing a precedent set by a past emperor.

The issue of who will succeed the monk looms as potentially explosive after an outburst of anti-Chinese violence tore through the region in March 2008, prompting a tight security clampdown, which continues.  Read Article

By Dan Martin