PANCHEN LAMA STILL MISSING
By Andy Clark
Radio Netherlands
April 25, 2007

Original Link

Campaigners around the world are calling for pressure to be put on China to come clean about the whereabouts of one of Tibet's most important spiritual leaders. The man is question is the Panchen Lama and he is 18 today. He was just six years old when he was kidnapped by the Chinese authorities shortly after he was named as Tibet's spiritual number two, second only in importance to the Dalai Lama.

Tibetan religious music was heard in the heart of the Dutch political capital the Hague when campaigners came to parliament to put pressure on the Dutch government to act in the case of the Panchen Lama. He has been missing for 12 years and is one of the youngest political prisoners in the world.

He is the second highest spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama himself, but crucially he plays the lead role in naming the next Dalai Lama when the current one dies. Campaign groups say this is the reason that the Chinese authorities have removed the boy and replaced him with their own alternative candidate.

Jan Willem den Besten from the Dutch section of the International Campaign for Tibet comments:

"He is seen as essential in the entire process of recognition of the Dalai Lama -- the Chinese authorities hope that they will have control over the recognition process of the Dalai Lama once he passes away."

Chinese candidate

By putting their own candidate forward in place of the one chosen by the Tibetan government in exile, in northern India, the Chinese authorities are seeking to appoint a pro-China Dalai Lama say the campaign groups. This in a bid to further undermine separatism and calls for greater autonomy for Tibet which China invaded in 1949 when the communists came to power.
 
The case of the Panchen Lama is part of a broader campaign of the suppression of cultural freedoms in Tibet according to the campaign groups. But what do the campaigners want the Dutch government to do? Jan Willem den Besten: 

"We expect that the Dutch government keeps this issue alive with the Chinese authorities and in particular in the run up to the Olympic Games of 2008 we see it as an excellent opportunity for them to put pressure on the Chinese authorities to release the Panchen Lama."

Rising powers

Henk Jan Ormel is the chairman of the foreign affairs committee in parliament and he received a petition from campaigners. So what will the Dutch do?

"The Netherlands alone can't do anything but the Netherlands in the European Union and the European Union as a whole can certainly do something for the future of human rights in China. China is a rising power but the European Union is also a rising power and human rights and freedom of expression are very important values, which we have to defend. That's why we are together in the EU so we have to talk to China and the Chinese authorities and ask them what happened to the Panchen Lama."

School children

Dutch school children have also been involved in the campaign to call for awareness of the plight of the Panchen Lama on his 18th birthday. Thousands of signatures were handed over to the foreign affairs committee urging concrete action on the issue.
 
Tibetans have been struggling to regain freedoms and keep their culture in tact since China invaded in 1949. The Chinese claim Tibet has always been part of mainland China, but the Tibetan government in exile - in India - disputes this and continues to campaign for broad reaching autonomy.
 
The Dalai Lama is the figurehead for this campaign and this is the reason that attempts by China to interfere in the accession process of future Dalai Lamas, appointing their own Panchen Lama, is such an explosive political issue.

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