US, TIBETANS OBJECT TO CHINESE INTERFERENCE IN DALAI LAMA'S SUCCESSION PLAN

'SINICIZATION'

- DIBYENDU MONDAL

The United States and China are once again at loggerheads, with a senior US diplomat condemning China's "sinister" plan to install its own Dalai Lama, the Buddhist religious head, at a time when Tibet is passing through a critical moment to save its own religious, cultural, and linguistic heritage.

During the UNHRC session held earlier this month in Geneva, the US Mission in Geneva, US State Department's Under Secretary for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Uzra Zeya held a side event with the representatives of the Tibetan community and the Tibetan government-in-exile, affirming that the US would support the religious freedom of the people of Tibet and would support the people of Tibet to have the freedom to choose their own leader. Zeya, soon after this meeting, tweeted, "We will continue to support members of the Tibetan community's religious freedom, including the ability to choose their own religious leaders." 

Interestingly, China had also held a side event on the same day in Geneva titled "International Webinar on the Religious Rituals and Historical Customs of the Reincarnation of Living Buddhas," where Beijing tried to "reaffirm" its jurisdiction over Dalai Lama's reincarnation.