‘China has no right to pick next Dalai Lama’

China has no authority at all to get involved in choosing the next Dalai Lama as it does not believe in religion and the succession plan is entirely a spiritual matter and not a political issue for the Tibetan people, the head of the Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh has said.

Gyangbung Rinpoche, the Abbot of the nearly 350-year-old monastery near India’s border with China, also said that it is important to counter Beijing’s policy of expansionism and New Delhi must maintain a strict vigil over the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with that country, in an oblique reference to the eastern Ladakh standoff.

Referring to China’s aggressive posturing along the LAC, Rinpoche said though India believes in peace and prosperity, its approach in dealing with such belligerence has to be based on the ground reality. It is important to counter China’s growing assertiveness. It is necessary for India to keep a strict vigil over the border (with China), he said in an interview.

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