Washington, June 11 (IANS) A senior Republican lawmaker has introduced an amendment aimed at reinforcing US policy that the succession of the Dalai Lama is a religious matter to be determined solely by Tibetan Buddhist authorities, warning that China could seek to install a successor loyal to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Speaking during a House Foreign Affairs Committee markup this week, Chairman Emeritus of the committee, Michael McCaul, urged lawmakers to back the amendment, saying it would make clear that the US government recognises the Dalai Lama’s succession as a spiritual matter governed entirely by his office and not by Beijing.
“In 2024, I led a bipartisan delegation to Dharamsala, India, and had the honour of sitting down with His Holiness the Dalai Lama. He is one of the most remarkable persons I have ever met — full of warmth, wisdom, and humour,” McCaul said.
Recalling the meeting, he added: “At one point he looked at me and smiled, and told me he plans to live to 110.”
McCaul said the issue of succession could not be ignored despite the Dalai Lama’s health and longevity.
“I hope he’s right. But we cannot build American foreign policy on the hope that one man lives forever,” he said.
“The Dalai Lama has said he will not be reborn in China, but rather (in) freedom. The question (of) who succeeds the Dalai Lama is coming, and Beijing knows this.”
The Texas Republican accused China of laying the groundwork to control the succession process.
“Back in 2007, the Communist Party handed itself the supposed authority to approve who may and may not be reincarnated,” he said. “Let that sink in — an officially atheist government claiming the power to license reincarnation for the Tibetan people.”
He also criticised what he described as Beijing’s tightening control over ethnic and religious minorities, citing China’s recently enacted “Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress”.
According to McCaul, the amendment builds on the bipartisan Tibetan Policy and Support Act passed in 2020.
“The Dalai Lama has already laid out how his successor is to be recognised after he is gone — placing that authority within his own office and the senior leaders of his faith,” he said. “My amendment affirms that this is the process that US policy recognises, and the CCP has no role in that.”
McCaul argued that the issue extends beyond religious freedom and has broader strategic implications for the region.
“This is not only a matter of faith; it is a matter of national security,” he said.
“If we sit on our hands, Beijing will name a counterfeit Dalai Lama — a spiritual figurehead loyal not to the Tibetan people, but to the Communist Party — and it will use him as an instrument of influence across the entire Himalayan region: in Nepal, in Mongolia, and right along the border of our partner, India.”
Referring again to his meeting with the Tibetan spiritual leader, McCaul quoted the Dalai Lama as saying: “I will not be reborn in China. I will be reborn in freedom.”
“We must honour that wish by ensuring that this decision rests with him and his people — not with a government that has spent decades trying to erase them — and to erase him,” he said.
–IANS
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