BEIJING, Aug 7: In a stark reaffirmation of its grip over Tibetan affairs, China has once again declared that it alone will control the reincarnation process of the Dalai Lama, rejecting the authority of the Tibetan spiritual leader himself.
Speaking at a press conference in Beijing marking the 60th anniversary of the founding of the so-called Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), senior Chinese official Gama Cedain stated that the “central government has the indisputable final say” on the matter. Cedain, who chairs TAR and serves as deputy secretary of the Chinese Communist Party’s TAR committee, said that the reincarnation must take place through procedures sanctioned by Beijing including the controversial “golden urn” lottery system — and only within Chinese territory.
The announcement, reported by Tibetan Review, underscores Beijing’s long-running campaign to tighten ideological and religious control over Tibet, a region with a deeply distinct identity and history of resistance.
The Dalai Lama, now 90, has repeatedly dismissed Beijing’s claims over his reincarnation. During celebrations marking his birthday last month, the exiled Nobel laureate stated unequivocally that the decision would lie with the non-profit trust he established — not with the Chinese state. He has also made it clear that any future reincarnation will not be born in territory under Chinese rule.
This clash isn’t new. In 1995, the Chinese government abducted a six-year-old boy whom the Dalai Lama had recognized as the 11th Panchen Lama — Tibet’s second-most revered religious figure — and replaced him with a government-approved child. The original Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has been missing ever since.
Beijing continues to brand the Dalai Lama as a separatist, despite his consistent calls for genuine autonomy within China rather than full independence. For decades, however, China has sought to co-opt Tibetan Buddhism and eliminate all spaces for dissent — political, cultural, or spiritual.
Gama Cedain’s latest statement leaves little doubt about the Chinese Communist Party’s goal: to erase Tibetan agency over its religious traditions and replace it with party-approved dogma. As Tibetan Review observed, what was once a sacred spiritual practice — the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama — has become another battlefield in China’s broader war on Tibetan identity.