by Gilles Campion

SHIGATSE, China, June 5 (AFP) - In the sombre halls of the Tashilhunpo monastery, portraits of the Panchen Lama, Tibetan Buddhism's second highest figure, adorn every altar but the boy appointed by Beijing to that position is nowhere to be found.

"The 11th Panchen Lama lives in Beijing for security reasons, in view of the threats from the Dalai Lama's pro-independence groups," said Ma Chongying, the Chinese assistant director of the Nationalities Affairs Commission.

Gyaincain Norbu, now seven, has been the subject of a fierce controversy which has for the past two years pitted the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, against the Chinese authorities who are determined to maintain control over the mountainous region.

The dispute broke out in May 1995 when the Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India, named another Tibetan boy as the "reincarnation" of the 10th Panchen Lama who died in 1989 at Tashilhunpo, the seat of the Panchens since the 17th century.

"He (the Dalai Lama) had no authority to interfere in this matter," said Ma, claiming that for the past 200 years, the choice of all Tibetan religious leaders has had to be approved by China.

Ma recalled that China put aside the Dalai Lama's choice and solemnly chose the "real" Panchen in late 1995 after years of search that cost several million yuan (one dollar 8.3 yuan).

Meanwhile, the candidate anointed by the Dalai Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has been spirited out of Tibet by Chinese authorities, and is under house arrest.

"He is being guarded in another Chinese province and his return to Tibet will depend on the Dalai Lama's attitude," Ma said.

Chadrel Rinpoche, the senior Lama at Tashilhunpo, who had been designated by Beijing to find the new Panchen, was jailed for six years in April for leaking the results of the Chinese search to the Dalai Lama.

But Beijing was unable to undo the damage caused by the leak and even though China's propaganda machinery is running at full throttle, its choice of Panchen has met with suspicion among the Tibetans.

"He is China's Panchen Lama, not Tibet's" was the refrain of most pilgrims and monks questioned in the monasteries in central Tibet.

The official portrait of the China-picked Panchen was extensively distributed in February but it is hardly ever displayed in those monasteries, unlike in Tashilhunpo, situated in Shigatse, some 250 kilometres (155 miles) west of Lhasa.

"It is true that the announcement of two Panchen Lamas at the same time sowed confusion in the Tibetan minds but it is now up to the Tashilhunpo monastery to ensure the real Panchen is accepted," Ma said.

The 760 or so monks who live in the monastery have apparently got the message.

"Most of the faithful believe in him (the China-picked Panchen), because he was chosen in accordance with tradition," said Tsongye, 22, who became a monk when he was 11.

However, when the boy was brought on a brief visit to Tashilhunpo in June 1996, the Tibetan public failed to show up.

But Tsongye has a ready explanation: "The monastery had voluntarily restricted the number of people allowed to see him, because he is still only a child."

Some Tibetans believe the adverse publicity surrounding the young Panchen Lama is a warning that the boy is doomed.

"He looks pale and hardly ever talks," some say and for others, he seems to have been born under a "bad sign."

If he were to die, Chinese authorities would have to move quickly to put in place a team to pick a new child as reincarnation.

"The Panchen Lama is Beijing's trump card because after the death of the Dalai Lama, who will be 62 this year, it will be up to the Panchen to choose the successor," said an expert on Tibet, adding, "China cannot afford to go wrong."