The United States Congress passed a bill reaffirming the right of Tibetans to choose a successor to their spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama. Dharamshala, the seat of the Tibetan government in exile, has described the law as a historic move and a clear message for China.
The Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020 (TPSA), which was passed by the US Senate, calls for the establishment of a US consulate in Lhasa, Tibet’s main city, and underscores the absolute right of Tibetans to elect a successor to the Dalai Lama.
“The TPSA makes official US policy that decisions regarding the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama are exclusively within the authority of the current Dalai Lama, the Tibetan Buddhist leaders and the Tibetan people,” said a statement from the Central Tibetan Administration after the Senate approval. . The House of Representatives has already approved the bill.
“Any interference by Chinese government officials will face severe penalties and will be deemed inadmissible in the United States,” the statement said.
Annoyed by the US move, China’s Foreign Ministry accused the United States of meddling in its internal affairs and called on the Donald Trump administration not to enact the legislation. “We urge the US side to stop meddling in China’s internal affairs and refrain from enacting the law of these clauses and negative acts, so that they do not further harm our cooperation and bilateral relations,” the spokesman said Tuesday. from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, at a briefing in Beijing. .
Lobsang Sangay, president of the Central Tibetan Administration, described the legislation as a victory for the Tibetan freedom struggle. “We have been pushing for this for the past two years,” he said. He said the move by the US Congress was a tribute to the great legacy of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the courage and solidarity of six million Tibetans within Tibet.
The Dalai Lama, then 23, had crossed into Tawang from Arunachal Pradesh in April 1959 to escape the Chinese who had invaded Tibet nine years earlier and brutally suppressed the uprising against the Beijing government. The Dalai Lama and the thousands of Tibetans who followed him settled in the Himalayan city of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh, where he has been living in exile ever since. There are more than 80,000 Tibetans living in exile in India; 150,000 more around the world, especially in the United States and Europe.
China has been trying to dismantle Tibetan Buddhism ever since. He detained Gedhun Choekyi Nyima in Tibet just three days after he was proclaimed the 11th Panchen Lama, the second highest Lama in Tibetan Buddhism, in May 1995. He has not been seen since. Instead, Beijing selected its own six-year-old Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama six months later and enthroned him in Shigatse monastery.
The US law is significant because China has already started the process to identify its version of the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama. China has said its leaders have the right to approve the Dalai Lama’s successor, which many see as a coercive attempt to control Tibet, where ethnic Tibetans make up about 90% of the population, according to a Reuters report.
This means that if the Tibetan people decide to continue the institution of the Dalai Lama, there could be two Dalai Lamas. Just as there are two Panchen Lamas and two title suitors of the 17th Karmapa, the headmaster of the rich Karma Kagyu school.
Sangay said the TPSA sends a loud and clear message to China that Tibet remains a priority for the United States and that it will continue its strong support for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the CTA.
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