The US House of Representatives has passed a bill against China’s political interference in the appointment of Tibet’s next religious leader.
The House has voted to impose sanctions against the Chinese officials who have asserted Beijing’s role in Dalai Lama’s succession.
The US has, in the past, hit out against the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the persecution that the Tibetan Buddhists face in China. Once approved by the Senate, the law would prohibit China to open another consulate in the US soil until Washington sets up its mission in Tibet’s capital city, Lhasa.
China has demanded its legal claims and approval in the institution of the reincarnation of the Living Buddha. Beijing has cited that its assent in the appointment of the next Dalai Lama has been cited as a “matter of internal affairs”.
The US Bill aims to put pressures on China to continue dialogues with the Tibetan representatives of the Dalai Lama. The succession of Tibet’s next spiritual leader is its community’s exclusive right as practised over the centuries.
The 14th Dalai Lama who is living in India in political exile after China’s occupation of Tibet is approaching the age of 85.
