VIENNA: The rise in self-immolations in protest against Chinese rule of the Tibetan plateau is “tragic,” a potential successor to Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama said in an interview published yesterday.
Speaking to the Austria Press Agency in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala where the exiled Tibetan government is based, Urgyen Trinley said the situation is “very difficult and sad” and “very tragic.”
Last month two teenagers burned to death in southwest China, taking to over 50 the number of Tibetans who have set themselves alight in protest against Beijing’s rule.
“Now it’s 50, soon maybe 70 or 80. I am worried that soon we will only be talking about numbers, not about the individual stories,” the 27-year-old, who fled China in 1999, said in comments published in German.
But Urgyen Trinley expressed optimism too: “We know that the world can change very quickly, and China too,” he told APA. He also said that he hoped to be able to travel to Europe next year, if the Indian government allows it.
He also said he hoped that neither the economic crisis in Ewurope nor a fear of displeasing the Chinese government would stop the continent’s governments from pressuring Beijing.
Tibetans have long chafed at China’s rule over the vast Tibetan plateau, accusing Beijing of curbing religious freedoms and eroding their culture and language, and these tensions have intensified over the past two years.
Beijing, however, insists that Tibetans enjoy religious freedom and have benefited from improved living standards brought on by China’s enormous economic expansion, and blames the Dalai Lama for fomenting unrest.
Urgyen Trinley is recognized by both China and the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Karmapa Lama, head of the Karma Kagyu lineage, one of Tibetan Buddhism’s four major schools.
Recent appearances with the Dalai Lama — notably during a visit to Washington last year — have fueled speculation that he is being groomed as the Nobel peace laureate’s spiritual successor.
Others in the Karma Kagyu school believe however that another young man, Thaye Dorje, also in exile in India after fleeing China in 1994, is the true 17th Karmapa.
Tibet situation ‘tragic,’ says potential next Dalai Lama
