November 11, 1995, Washington, DC

China's likely announcement of a rival Panchen Lama, to the boy already recognized by the Dalai Lama, will represent possibly the greatest direct confrontation between the Chinese leadership and the Dalai Lama in recent times.

The current controversy started after the Dalai Lama's announcement, on May 14, 1995, of Gedun Choekyi Nyima, a six-year old boy from northern Tibet, as the 11th Panchen Lama. The 10th Panchen Lama passed away in January 1989. Choosing the Panchen Lama's reincarnation has always been within the authority of the Dalai Lama, but in the changed political equation in Tibet since 1959, the Chinese Government is inserting itself in this purely religious Tibetan tradition. They have taken any expression by the Tibetan people of a distinct religious identity as a direct challenge to their control over Tibet and Tibetan affairs. Beijing first detained Chadrel Rinpoche, the head of the search committee for the Panchen Lama, suspecting him of colluding with the Dalai Lama. It then forced top Tibetan lamas and officials to denounce the Dalai Lama's action. The lamas and officials were given no alternative but to accede to the Chinese orders. A number of high ranking officials, including Phagpalha Gelek Namgyal, a vice c

hairman of the National People's Congress, were personally approached by the First Secretary of the TAR Communist Party, Chen Kuiyan, after they resisted the initial Chinese orders. It is believed that Phagpalha agreed to make a statement only after Chen came to his house and agreed to release his son who had been imprisoned for murder.

As Beijing was forcing some lamas to denounce the Dalai Lama, monks of Tashi Lhunpo, the Panchen Lama's monastery, openly extended support to the Dalai Lama's choice. This put Beijing in a peculiar situation. As a result, Beijing publicly removed key leaders of Tashi Lhunpo monastery in July 1995. In their place, pro-Chinese Tibetans were appointed.

Having laid the foundation, Beijing has taken the next step of convening a meeting of senior Tibetan lamas and officials in Beijing from November 6, 1995 at the Jingxi guest house to finalise the process of recognizing a rival Panchen Lama. The Jingxi guest house is run by the Chinese military and is generally used to host Communist Party meetings and other such conferences needing great secrecy. The series of meetings on Tibet in the past were believed to have been held in this guest house.

The announcement of a rival Panchen Lama would be the first time ever that a Chinese government has directly assumed total control over the entire process of the recognition of a Tibetan lama's reincarnation. The Manchus and the Nationalist rulers of China in the past did not have any say in the selection of Tibetan lamas. In the few occasions where they were able to exercise some authority, their role was limited to the nominal "approval" of reincarnations already chosen by the concerned Tibetan authorities. In the case of the Manchu rulers, their personal belief in Tibetan Buddhism led to their involvement, usually to eliminate fake candidates. In the case of the Nationalists, they did not involve themselves in the actual process of recognition of the reincarnation of the 13th Dalai Lama and the 9th Panchen Lama, which took place during their control over China.

China's hidden agenda in a purely religious issue is very clear. Soon after China secured total control over Tibet in 1959, the Chinese authorities literally banned the institutions of the very many reincarnated lamas calling them a misfit in the new Communist society. It was only in the early Eighties that the Chinese authorities changed their attitude. They started exploiting the deep religiosity of the Tibetan people to serve their political objectives.

The latest Chinese action appears to be an attempt to solidify their control over Tibet. Another objective is to test the loyalty of prominent Tibetans: religious and secular figures. Already this issue is reported to be dividing Tibetans; between those who have agreed to make statements supporting Beijing, and those who have not. The seniormost Tibetan leader in China today, Ngapo Ngawang Jigme, seems to have been totally excluded from the current process. Despite the fact that the Beijing meeting was totally controlled many high lamas voiced the opinion that the boy recognized by the Dalai Lama should be considered.

The choice of Beijing as a venue of the selection meeting is significant. Traditionally, any ceremony involved with the issue is held on Tibetan soil, even if it is not in the Panchen Lama's monastery of Tashi Lhunpo. By holding the selection in Beijing, China is uprooting this ancient tradition, establishing a precedent and asserting ultimate control over the ritual.

Wthout any recognition from the Dalai Lama the Chinese authorities would be hard put to it to put the stamp of legitimacy to their choice. Official Chinese documents acknowledge this. The late Panchen Lama, in an interview to China Reconstructs, in its January 1988 issue, said, " According to Tibetan tradition, the confirmation of either the Dalai or the Panchen must be mutually recognized." This is further confirmed by China's own historian Ya Hanzhang who, in his official biography of the Panchen Lamas (Biographies of the Tibetan Spiritual Leaders Panchen Erdenis, Foreign Languages Press, Beijing) said, "By Tibetan tradition a reincarnation of the Panchen could not be religiously legal without the Dalai's recognition, and the same was the case with the Dalai."

Nevertheless, China will certainly go to all extremes to thrust its choice of the Panchen Lama on the Tibetan people. This is the litmus test of its authority over the Tibetan people.