Pompeo demands China reveal Panchen Lama ‘immediately’
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday demanded that China reveal “immediately” the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama chosen by the Dalai Lama, 25 years following the six-year-old was seized.
The Dalai Lama, who lives in exile in India and enjoys a broad global following, in-may 1995 discovered Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the next most senior figure in Tibetan Buddhism’s major school.
The boy was taken into custody three days later and has not been seen since, with human rights groups calling him the world’s youngest political prisoner.
“Tibetan Buddhists, like members of all faith communities, should be in a position to select, educate and venerate their religious leaders according to their traditions and without government interference,” Pompeo said in a statement.
“We call on the PRC government to immediately make public the Panchen Lama’s whereabouts also to uphold its constitution and international commitments to market religious freedom for all persons.”
China appointed its Panchen Lama, who has made several tightly scripted public appearances, even though many Tibetans usually do not recognize him.
Sam Brownback, the united states ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, the other day warned that Beijing should not start to see the Panchen Lama episode as a model for the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation.
China’s officially atheist government has made clear it could seek to name a successor to the 84-year-old Dalai Lama, whose charisma has taken global attention to Tibet for decades.
In a rare statement on the Dalai Lama-appointed Panchen Lama, a pro-Beijing official in Tibet said in 2015 that the son was healthy, enjoying an education and “will not want to be disturbed.”
