【01.03.01 印度时报】Panchen Lama elevated to challenge the Dalai Lama

青蛙小王子

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/china/Panchen-Lama-elevated-to-challenge-the-Dalai-Lama/articleshow/5630952.cms


BEIJING: In 1954, the Dalai Lama attended a meeting of the National People’s Congress and Communist Party chairman Mao Zedong wrote a poem praising his accomplishments. The wheel has now turned a full circle with the party appointing the Panchen Lama as a member of the Chinese parliament.

In his new role, the 23-year old Panchen Lama may be expected to take on the Dalai Lama and help the government counter the adverse publicity on the Tibet issue. He has so far refrained from any direct attack on the elderly Dalai Lama. But this might happen now because most members of the parliament denounce the Dalai Lama on a routine basis.

It took 15 years for Bainqen Erdini Qoigyijabu, who was handpicked by Communist leaders to be made the Panchen Lama in 1995, to earn his spurs and rise to become a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the second body in Chinese parliament.

Technically speaking, a CPPCC member has a somewhat less influence as compared to a member of NPC, which is the most important decision making body. But the Panchen Lama will be given a high-profile political role aimed at building worldwide support for China’s case in the Tibet issue.

The decision to elevate him comes soon after US president Barack Obama brushed aside Chinese protests and kept his date with the Dalai Lama.

Beijing has also been saying that the Dalai Lama has lost his right to be called a Tibetan after his statement last year that he was born a Tibetan but was spiritually an Indian.

The Panchen Lama has so far helped the government build influence among Buddhists across the world by playing a key role in the State-sponsored conferences like the World Buddhist Congress and making statements praising the government. But he has not joined the government campaign to vilify the Dalai Lama.

Observers said he might now be expected to join the vilification campaign, participate in press conferences on Tibet related issues and even travel around the world to canvass support for the government’s point of view.

The CPPCC is a vast advisory body of 2,200 members and includes representatives of 56 ethnic minority groups in China, members of a few non-Communist parties, business leaders, religious figures, academics and celebrities. The next session of CPPCC begins Wednesday.

The Panchen Lama was among 13 new people named to the National Committee of the CPPCC.

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