‘Won’t allow China to influence choice of the Dalai Lama’s successor’: US lawmakers after meeting Tibetan spiritual leader

Pelosi was among the seven members of the US Congressional delegation who met the spiritual leader Wednesday. The delegation was led by US House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, and comprised Mariannette Miller, Gregory Meeks, Nicole Malliotakis, Jim McGovern, and Ami Bera, besides Pelosi.

“…His Holiness Dalai Lama, with his message of knowledge, tradition, compassion, purity of soul and love, will live a long time and his legacy will live forever. But you, the President of China, you’ll be gone and nobody will give you credit for anything. Dalai Lama would not approve of my saying that when I criticize the Chinese government, he says, let’s pray for Nancy to rid her of her negative attitudes,” Pelosi said at an event on Wednesday.

“I hope he will indulge me today to say that change is on the way. As our colleagues have said hope brings some faith and the faith of the Tibetan people in the goodness of others is what is going to make all the difference…,” she continued.

Speaking about the approval by Congress for the legislation, titled ‘Promoting a Resolution to the Tibet-China Dispute Act’, or the Resolve Tibet Act, Pelosi said it sent a message to China that Washington is clear in its thinking on the issue of Tibet.

“This Bill says to the Chinese government: things have changed now, get ready for that,” Pelosi was quoted as saying by PTI.

‘We will not let that happen’: Michael McCaul

McCaul, meanwhile, at a public reception after the meeting, said, “It is still my hope that one day the Dalai Lama and his people will return to Tibet in peace,” news agency PTI reported.

Moreover, on Beijing’s interference into choosing the successor of the Dalai Lama, which has been a widely-debated issue, McCaul said, “We will not let that happen.”

Dispute over choosing the Dalai Lama’s successor

While Beijing has continued to stand firm that its officially atheist Communist leaders have the right to approve the successor – as a legacy inherited from China’s emperors – the Tibetan tradition holds that the Dalai Lama is reincarnated after his death, and the current leader has said his successor may be found in India, PTI stated.

Beijing, which considers the Dalai Lama a dangerous “separatist,” had said it was seriously concerned about the visit of the lawmakers to Dharamsala and the bill. It also urged the lawmakers not to contact the “Dalai clique,” PTI report stated.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, urged Biden not to sign the bipartisan Tibet Policy Bill adopted by both the US Senate and the House of Representatives. According to media reports from Washington, the Bill, which seeks to counter China’s narrative about its control over Tibet and promote dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama, awaits Biden’s signature to make it into a law.

Dharamsala has been the seat of power for Tibet’s government in exile since the spiritual leader stepped into India six decades ago.