Published by World Tibet Network News - Friday, December 1, 1995

By CHARLENE L. FU - Associated Press Writer

BEIJING, Nov. 30, 1995 (AP) -- China today denied reports it has incarcerated the 6-year-old boy the Dalai Lama named as Tibet's second most important religious leader, but officials said they don't know where the boy is.

In its struggle for the allegiance of Tibet's devoutly Buddhist people, the Chinese government on Wednesday defied the Dalai Lama by naming a different boy to become the new Panchen Lama.

Exiled Tibetans say the boy the Dalai Lama chose in May, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has not been seen since at least July and was believed to have been held until recently at a guest house in Beijing. They have expressed fears for his safety.

At a regular news briefing today, Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said Chinese officials "have no idea of the whereabouts of the soul boy designated by the Dalai Lama."

"He is not missing, nor is he incarcerated," Shen said.

Shen also said Buddhists should above all be patriotic, implying they should support the Panchen Lama recognized by the Chinese central government and not the one chosen by the Dalai Lama.

"A qualified believer should first be a patriot," he said. "Any legal religion must firstly demand its believers to be patriotic."

Shen's remarks appeared to be a veiled threat to ban Tibetan Buddhism and echoed an editorial in today's People's Daily -- the ruling Communist Party newspaper -- that warned Tibetans to repudiate the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after China crushed an independence uprising. He lives now in India. The last Panchen Lama, who died six years ago, was the highest-ranking leader to stay in Tibet after the Dalai Lama fled.

China hopes naming a new Panchen Lama will lend legitimacy to its often harsh 45-year rule, which has failed to dampen the Tibetans' fervor for the Dalai Lama and independence.

But the Dalai Lama's government-in-exile said today that Tibetans in three cities, including Lhasa, defied martial law and staged demonstrations to protest the Chinese choice.

In the first detail released by any group about the boy chosen by China, the government-in-exile said the child's parents are Communist Party members and therefore supposedly atheists. The report could not immediately be confirmed.

At one of Tibet's holiest shrines Wednesday, Chinese officials and Beijing-affiliated Tibetan lamas selected Gyaincain Norbu from northeastern Tibet as the new Panchen Lama.

During the dawn ceremony, a senior monk reached into a golden urn and pulled out an ivory tile bearing the name of a 6-year-old boy.

The Chinese government today began rallying Tibetan Buddhist leaders behind its choice. The official Xinhua News Agency quoted several top monks as supporting China's selection process. It also ran a separate report saying the selection followed the wishes of the late 10th Panchen Lama and centuries of Tibetan Buddhist rituals and traditions.