With India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar set to visit China for a high-level security meeting, a familiar tension has resurfaced: the Dalai Lama’s succession. Beijing has once again lashed out, calling it an 'internal affair of China', and warning India against what it describes as playing the 'Xizang card'.
The Tibetan spiritual leader, who has lived in exile in India since 1959, recently celebrated his 90th birthday. Senior Indian leaders, including Minister Kiren Rijiju, attended the event in Dharamshala.
During the celebrations, the Dalai Lama reiterated that only he and his religious office can decide his reincarnation, directly rejecting China’s claim that the process must be approved by Beijing. This sparked an angry response from the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, which called the issue a “thorn in China-India relations”.
“The reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama is inherently an internal affair of China,” said Yu Jing, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in India, on X.
She criticised unnamed Indian strategic commentators and officials for making “improper remarks” and warned that playing with the issue would be “shooting oneself in the foot.”
India’s balancing act: Belief, not politics
India has officially maintained a cautious line. On July 4, just before the Dalai Lama’s birthday, the Ministry of External Affairs said India “does not take any position” on matters related to religion or faith.
But Minister Rijiju, a practising Buddhist who sat next to the Dalai Lama during the celebrations, made his view clear:
“Only His Holiness the Dalai Lama and his religious institution have the right to decide on his reincarnation.”
The statement echoed support for the Dalai Lama’s authority while staying within the realm of religious belief, yet it clearly struck a nerve in Beijing.
What’s at stake?
The succession of the Dalai Lama is not just spiritual, it’s geopolitical. China wants to control the process to maintain influence over Tibet. For India, hosting the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala offers strategic leverage amid persistent tensions with China, especially after the 2020 border clash in Ladakh that left 20 Indian and 4 Chinese soldiers dead.
India is also home to around 70,000 Tibetan refugees, many of whom are politically active and opposed to Beijing’s control over Tibet.
High-stakes visit ahead
Jaishankar’s upcoming visit to Tianjin on July 15 for a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meet will mark the highest-level India-China bilateral interaction since the 2020 standoff. Though framed around multilateral security discussions, all eyes will be on how the Dalai Lama issue, and wider bilateral tensions, play into the talks.
Late last month, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also met his Chinese counterpart on the sidelines of another SCO meeting, signalling a tentative thaw, but underlying tensions, like the Tibet question, remain far from resolved.
Discover the latest Business News, Sensex, and Nifty updates. Obtain Personal Finance insights, tax queries, and expert opinions on Moneycontrol or download the Moneycontrol App to stay updated!
