By Kristine Kwok
China’s pick as the 11th Panchen Lama is at least a year away from receiving the honorific title of CPPCC deputy chairman, with the advisory group set to select another candidate for the top job today.
But he still has the central government’s blessing and support as China’s face of Tibetan Buddhism. His portrait is rarely hung in Tibetan homes, however, unlike the show of respect paid to his predecessor and the 14th Dalai Lama.
After years of careful training and grooming, the Panchen Lama was appointed a delegate to the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference this year.
It had been speculated that, at the age of 20, the CPPCC’s youngest delegate could become one of the advisory group’s more than 20 vice-chairmen, with state leadership rank, to replace the late Ngapoi Ngawang Jigme. But according to Liu Bainian , vice-chairman of the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and a CPPCC delegate, former Macau chief executive Edmund Ho Hau-wah is the only candidate on the list.
The delegates will hold a ceremonial election for a new vice-chairman today, as the annual CPPCC plenum draws to a close.
The Panchen Lama has been in demand this year, with journalists keen to glimpse the saffron-robed Living Buddha, who has been attending the plenum for years as a guest.
But catching the Panchen Lama is a tall order, not to mention getting him to talk in front of overseas media.
On the opening day of the CPPCC plenum last week, the Panchen Lama, swamped by foreign journalists, sealed his lips and walked through the Great Hall of the People without uttering a word.
And group discussions by CPPCC religious delegates, the category which the Panchen Lama falls into, were for the first time in years closed for overseas media this year. Previously, the religious group would be open to overseas media for at least one panel discussion.
A rare glimpse of the Panchen Lama’s maiden foray into political circles came in an interview with Xinhua in which he said that he would carry forward the tradition of the 10th Panchen Lama in ‘loving the country, the religion and the people’.
‘I have shouldered the mission of safeguarding national unity and ethnic solidarity since I was enthroned. Now, such a sense of responsibility is becoming even stronger,’ he said.
Even fellow delegates were careful about their comments on the Panchen Lama, with most Tibetan delegates turning away at the question.
A top official with the Buddhism Association of China asked a reporter from this newspaper to delete the recording of his comments on the Panchen Lama, even though he only sang his praises while adding that he would have to ‘wait for his time to come’ for the vice-chairmanship.
Those who did not shy away spoke highly of the Panchen Lama.
Sita, a vice-minister of the United Front Work Department of the Communist Party and a CPPCC delegate, described the Panchen Lama as smart and having a good memory.
‘He is receiving good training now. Aside from religious knowledge he is also learning science, English and other subjects,’ he said. ‘I think all these will be helpful for his bigger role in Tibetan Buddhism in the future, and will be effective in making Tibetan Buddhism more adaptable to our socialist society.’
Gyaincain Norbu was made the 11th Panchen Lama by Beijing without the consent of the 14th Dalai Lama. The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader’s choice for the position, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, disappeared shortly after his nomination was rejected by Beijing, prompting concern over his safety.
The new Tibetan government chairman, Padma Choling, said earlier this week that Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was being kept out of public view at his own request.
It has been tradition to enrol religious figureheads in the CPPCC as part of Beijing’s strategy to tighten its control on the influence of religions. Gyaincain Norbu’s predecessor, the 10th Panchen Lama, was a CPPCC delegate and made a vice-chairman in 1954, at the age of 16.
Elliot Sperling, an expert on Tibet issues from Indiana University’s Central Eurasia Studies Centre, said the delay in the Panchen Lama’s elevation was designed to avoid making his rise seem too precipitous.
‘It’s somewhat funny that with regard to the Dalai Lama, China insists he should not be mixing religion and politics, yet China’s Panchen Lama is appointed to a political post with no questions,’ Sperling said.
Robbie Barnett from Columbia University said China intended to groom its Panchen Lama to counter the influence of the Dalai Lama.
‘There has been some recent speculation among Chinese intellectuals in China that the party may deliberately be showing the Panchen Lama as an ordinary member who receives no special treatment to indicate to Tibetan followers that their admiration of religious leaders is respected but not shared by China’s leaders,’ he said.
Thubten Samphel, a spokesman for the Tibetan government in exile, said the appointment of Gyaincain Norbu as a CPPCC delegate would not be of any significance to the Tibetan people.
‘I believe the Tibetan people will recognise the Panchen Lama recognised by the Dalai Lama as their true spiritual leader,’ he said.
Barry Sautman from the University of Science and Technology in Hong Kong said Beijing’s grooming of its Panchen Lama was to prepare for the post-Dalai Lama era, when the Panchen Lama would play a key role in selecting the next Dalai Lama.
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