China has intensified its interference in the reincarnation process of the next Dalai Lama, according to a report released on Wednesday by the International Tibet Network (ITN). The 30-page document, titled ‘Tibet, the Dalai Lama, and the Geopolitics of Reincarnation,’ alleges that Beijing aims to use the Dalai Lama’s passing as an opportunity to end global support for Tibet’s cause and exclude the spiritual leader from his own succession planning.
The report highlights two Chinese policy documents revealing a strategy to control Tibetan religious identity and influence the international Buddhist community. In response to Chinese propaganda in 2011, the 14th Dalai Lama issued a document stating he might appoint a successor while alive—a practice with historical roots in Tibet—though this was swiftly rejected by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which insists that only Beijing can approve his successor.
