Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji has told the controversial Panchen Lama that China’s policies in Tibet are ”correct,” as he congratulated the boy on his just completed tour of the Himalayan region, state press said on Thursday.
The Panchen Lama, whose authority is disputed by exiled Tibetan groups, met with Zhu after his return to Beijing following his second-ever visit to Tibet, the People’s Daily reported.
”Tibet is an inalienable part of China which currently enjoys economic development and social stability and where its people lead happy lives,” Zhu was quoted as telling the boy Lama.
”History and the current situation show that the Communist Party of China adopted the correct ethnic and religious policies and has also succeeded in handling ethnic and religious issues,” Zhu said.
The report said the boy toured both Lhasa and his ancestral monastery in Shigatse as part of his 13th birthday celebrations, the paper said.
There is fierce disagreement between China and exiled Tibetan groups over whether the boy chosen by Beijing is the genuine 11th Panchen Lama.
In 1995 the exiled Dalai Lama chose Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a six-year-old boy, as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died in 1989.
This prompted the Chinese authorities to swiftly name Gyancain Norbu as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama and since then Beijing has trumpeted the boy’s legitimacy, while closely controlling his activities, including his religious functions and education.
The boy has spent the greater part of his life in Beijing, a move the Dalai Lama’s exiled government says is a reflection of the animosity of ordinary Tibetans towards his claim to be a revered spiritual leader.
The Chinese government also has placed the Dalai Lama-backed child under house arrest and has refused requests for independent access to the boy and his family, including requests from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson.
China has ruled Tibet in an often brutal fashion since it occupied the Himalayan territory in 1951, and has been accused of seeking to eradicate Tibet’s culture through repression and a flood of ethnic Chinese immigration.
The rapid modernisation of Tibet — which Beijing insists has brought many benefits to local people — has also been condemned by rights groups as helping to destroy the region’s heritage.
The Dalai Lama and his followers fled to India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. – Sapa-AFP