From: artpk@HK.Super.NET (Peter Kedge)

"Eastern Express , Hong Kong, December 19, 1995"

A high-profile religious ceremony to select the reincarnation of the second

most senior leader of Tibet's religious hierarchy was faked, according to

reliable sources in the Tibetan capital Lhasa. The ceremony to choose a

rival candidate to the post of 11th Panchen Lama was reported by the

official Chinese media as taking place on Nov. 29. In reality the ceremony

was held days earlier than officially reported and video-taped for release,

sources said.

Central government authorities ordered the change out of fear of disruption

of the ceremony by dissident monks.

"They did not want anything to go wrong", a source said. " So they did it

early" leaving time for a re-run in the event of disruptions during the

politically charged event. The identification ceremony was conducted in

Lhasa's Johkang temple, the holiest spot of Tibetan Buddhism. Johkang, in

downtown Lhasa, was reportedly under tight control by the People's Armed

Police (PAP) all through November, according to reports from witnesses in

the Tibetan capital. Jittery PAP soldiers used rubber bullets on a crown on

at least one occasion in mid-November, they said. Authorities were

determined to prevent disruption of the ceremony, wary of any delay to the

enthronement of their chosen candidate for the second highest religious

post in the Tibet Autonomous Region.

The selection of the government's candidate, Gyaincain Norbu, 6, was

rapidly followed by his enthronement on December 9, an auspicious day in

the Tibetan calendar. Delay in the selection ceremony would have postponed

the enthronement until another auspicious day and run the risk of

instability in Lhasa.

Lhasa, seat of the Dalai Lama's monastery, the Potala Palace, is generally

thought to be more anti-China than many other parts of Tibet. The later

ceremony to enthrone the boy held in Shigatse - seat of his monastery, the

Tashilhunpo - was not pre-recorded, sources said. This was because the

arrest of nearly 50 monks in Tashilhunpo over the summer had cleaned the

monastery of opposition.

The abbot of Tashilhunpo, Chadrel Rinpoche, and his assistant were detained

in May. The selection of the boy was a direct challenge to the Dalai Lama

who named Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, 6, as the reincarnation of the lama on May

14, provoking a stream of repudiation from China. The selection of a

government candidate for the position pushed deeply strained relations

between the Beijing and the exiled Dalai Lama to breaking point. The 10th

Panchen Lama was the most senior official to remain in Tibet after the

Dalai Lama fled to India in the wake of the failed 1959 uprising. The short

interval between the selection and enthronement of the boy - as few as 12

days, or 10 days, according to the official account - was highly unusual,

an observer familiar with the process said. An interval of one year would

be common as there is "no great hurry" another observer said.

Rushing the process betrayed a high degree of nervousness on the part of

the authority, observers said. A similar pre-recording of a highly

sensitive even occurred four years ago on the 40th anniversary of the

signing of the 17-Point Agreement, the agreement which marked the

incorporation of Tibet into the People's Republic of China.

At least some of the Tibetans who signed the 17-Point Agreement in Beijing

later claimed they had done so under duress.