Rushali Saha
Just a few days ahead of his 90th birthday, the 14th Dalai Lama announced at Dharamshala in India, where the headquarters of the Tibetan exile government is located, that his trust, the Gaden Phodrang, would have the “sole authority” in deciding who his successor would be. This remark has not only sparked outrage in Beijing, but also generated some friction in China’s ties with New Delhi. The decision regarding the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation is inherently political and intricately linked with the Sino-Indian border dispute.
The PRC — which has ruled Tibet since 1950 — has consistently maintained that the next Dalai Lama incarnation will be born inside China and approved by the Chinese government, even introducing legislation in 2007 titled “Measures on the Management of the Reincarnations of Living Buddhas in Tibetan Buddhis,” which lays out strict rules governing reincarnations. As a result, the Dalai Lama’s comments provoked a strong reaction from the Chinese government, which considers the 14th Dalai Lama a “splittist.”
Beijing also reacted sharply to what it viewed as Indian “interference in China’s internal affairs” after an Indian minister endorsed the Dalai Lama’s authority to choose his successor. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning warned New Delhi to “exercise caution in its words and actions….and avoid impact on the improvement and development of the China-India relationship.” Subsequently, India’s Ministry of External Affairs clarified that New Delhi “does not take any position or speak on matters concerning beliefs and practices of faith and religion,” effectively distancing itself from the Dalai Lama succession issue.
Historically, New Delhi has sought to emphasize predictability and worked on preventing the differences between Beijing and the Central Tibetan Authority (CTA), as the Tibetan government-in-exile is known, from derailing Sino-Indian ties. Back in 1954, New Delhi accepted Tibet as a “region” of China and in 2003, during Vajpayee’s visit to China, explicitly recognized that the “Tibet Autonomous Region is an integral part of the People’s Republic of China.” Since then, India has maintained a delicate balance between providing refuge to generations of Tibetan communities, while maintaining a strong economic and political relationship with Beijing.
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