'Stop interfering': China urges caution from India on Dalai Lama row, warns of impact on India-China relationship

The Dalai Lama

Amid the ongoing row over the selection of the successor of the Dalai Lama, China has urged India to use its words and actions cautiously and has also warned of the impact on the relationship that the two countries share.

During a press briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said that India should "stop interfering in China’s internal affairs with Xizang-related issues and avoid impact on the improvement and development of the China-India relationship".

Mao's comments came after Kiren Rijiju said that the decision on the incarnation of the Dalai Lama would be taken by the established institution and the leader of Tibetan Buddhists himself and no one else is liable to make that decision.

"The Dalai Lama is the most important and defining institution for the Buddhists. And all those who follow the Dalai Lama feel that the Incarnation is to be decided by the established convention and as per the wish of the Dalai Lama himself. Nobody else has the right to decide it except him and the conventions in place," Rijiju had said on Thursday.

On Friday, Rijiju added, "I am a devotee of the Dalai Lama. Anybody in the world who follows the Dalai lama wants his successor to be chosen by the Dalai Lama himself."

Meanwhile, On Wednesday, the Tibetan spiritual leader said that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue, and that only the Gaden Phodrang Trust - that was founded by his office in 2015 - will have the authority to recognise his future reincarnation as the successor of the Dalai Lama.

Mao also said that China’s stand saying that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama, the second-high priest of Tibetan Buddhism, has to be in compliance with rigorous religious rituals and historical conventions and the central government's approval.

She further said that the present 14th Dalai Lama went through this procedure and was approved by the then-central government.