The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the Dalai Lama yesterday for suggesting that his successor as Tibet's spiritual leader might be chosen by referendum, saying that this would "violate religious rituals."
The Dalai Lama has been considering options for choosing his successor, saying that senior lamas could follow Vatican practice and elect one of their number to succeed him, or that Tibetans might want to do away with the institution altogether. He has also mooted a referendum.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (
"The Chinese government has a policy of religious freedom and respects Tibetan Buddhism's religious rituals and historic conventions," Liu told a regular news conference.
"The Dalai Lama's related actions clearly violate established religious rituals and historic conventions and therefore cannot be accepted," he said.
Traditionally, a Dalai Lama's death provokes a search for his reincarnation among children born in Tibet at the same time. Many Tibetans fear the death of the current Dalai Lama, now 72, would be a major setback in their fight for more autonomy within China or independence, creating a leadership vacuum that Beijing could be expected to exploit.
In hopes of circumventing this, the Dalai Lama has long suggested that his reincarnation be sought outside China. More controversially, he also suggested in Japan this month that his successor could be chosen before his death.
"Anyone who tries to disrupt Tibet's stability and development will not have the support of the people and will not succeed," Liu said.
Meanwhile, nearly 200 people rioted last week outside a local government headquarters in Tibet, protesting over the police detention of two Buddhist monks accused of robbery, state media reported yesterday.
The crowd of ethnic Tibetans, which included monks, gathered at the Paingar township government office in western Tibet on Nov. 20, destroying some of the buildings there as well as nearby shops, Xinhua news agency said.
Three monks had allegedly robbed a motorcycle maintenance shop that day and police had detained two of them, Xinhua said, citing local officials.
Aside from the two monks accused of robbery, five of the 190 people who rioted were also detained, Xinhua said.
Local police and government officials refused to comment when contacted yesterday.
According to Radio Free Asia's Web site, police fired warning shots after they arrived at the motorcycle shop and later detained two monks named Yeshi Thokme, 15, and Dhondup Dorjee, 16. Another monk, Tsering Gyaltsen, 14, was left behind after being beaten by police for wearing a photograph of the Dalai Lama around his neck.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS