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.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
A new online voting system aimed at boosting turnout among the Philippines’ millions of overseas workers ahead of Monday’s mid-term elections has been marked by confusion and fears of disenfranchisement. Thousands of overseas Filipino workers have already cast their ballots in the race dominated by a bitter feud between President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and his impeached vice president, Sara Duterte. While official turnout figures are not yet publicly available, data from the Philippine Commission on Elections (COMELEC) showed that at least 134,000 of the 1.22 million registered overseas voters have signed up for the new online system, which opened on April 13. However,
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
RSS