Days before his 90th birthday, the Dalai Lama announced the Gaden Phodrang Trust, a non-profit he founded, will have the sole authority to recognize his future reincarnation, but China insists it will choose the successor of the Tibetan spiritual leader.

Lhasa

The Dalai Lama has announced that the Gaden Phodrang Trust, a group of exiled Tibetans he appointed, will be solely responsible for recognizing his future reincarnation. This decision comes after consultations with spiritual leaders and public appeals for the continuation of the Dalai Lama institution.

China has rejected the Dalai Lama's succession plan, maintaining that the central government in Beijing will determine the next Dalai Lama. The dispute highlights ongoing tensions between the Tibetan spiritual leader and Chinese authorities, with Tibetan communities abroad also opposing China's involvement in the succession process.

China rejects Dalai Lama’s succession plan

Days before his 90th birthday the Dalai Lama announced he will have a successor and laid out how they will be chosen. The Gaiden-Fodrang Trust has sole authority to recognize the future reincarnation, he said. No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter. That trust is a group of exiled Tibetans appointed by the Dalai Lama more than a decade ago. The Dalai Lama had previously suggested he might be the last in line but he told followers he reconsidered after consultations with spiritual leaders and appeals from the public. The whole Buddhist followers, non-Buddhist followers who is interested in the Dalai Lama institution they have asked the Dalai Lama to continue. Beijing is rejecting the plan. China annexed Tibet in 1951 and has tightly controlled the region since and has long said it will choose the next Dalai Lama. The reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must adhere to the principle of domestic search and approval by the central government, says the Chinese foreign ministry. Beijing and the Dalai Lama have feuded for years over who will decide about reincarnation. He represents a vision of freedom for the Tibetan people which unfortunately the authorities in Beijing see as a threat to their own rule. The decision is resonating here at this Toronto temple. Toronto is home to about half of the roughly 10,000 Tibetans living in Canada. Many pushing back on China's involvement. The Dalai Lama promised to leave behind clear instructions but with two sides claiming authority over what's next those instructions will clearly face challenges. Jamie Strachan, CBC News, Toronto.

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