US urges China to release top Tibetan religious figure it abducted, disappeared 31 years ago

(TibetanReview.net, May19’26) – The US State Department on May 18 called on China to release a top Tibetan religious leader it abducted with his family 31 years ago for the crime of having been recognized as the reincarnation of the 10^th Panchen Lama by the exiled Dalai Lama, the Tibetans’ top religious leader. Tibetans across the free world staged demonstrations and prayer services on the May 17 anniversary of his disappearance.

Chinese authorities should immediately release Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11^th Panchen Lama recognized by the Dalai Lama (on May 14 1995) and his family, and stop persecuting Tibetans or others in China for their religious beliefs, said Tommy Pigott, Spokesperson for the US Department of State, in a statement on May 18.

“The United States supports religious freedom for Tibetans, and the freedom to preserve their unique cultural and linguistic identity.

“Tibetan Buddhists, like members of all religious communities, should have the ability to freely select their own leaders – like the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama – according to their beliefs and without party-state interference,” the statement further said.

Within months after abducting the six-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, China appointed its own “11^th Panchen Lama”, Gyaltsen Norbu, whose parents happened to be communist party members. He is currently a members of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC); vice president of the Buddhist Association of China – an organization managed by the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party – and the President of this body’s Tibet branch.

Tashi Lhunpo Monastery in southern Tibet’s Shigatse City is the traditional seat of the successive Panchen Lamas. However, Gyaltsen Norbu lives and studies in Beijing under the glare of the United Front, which takes him on a tour of Tibet for about six months each year to lead its campaign for the assimilation of Tibetan Buddhism in the name of Sinicizing it to suit China’s modern socialist conditions.

Despite a persistent international clamour, China has steadfastly refused to provide any credible information on Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family’s fate or whereabouts, other than making a bald claim, years ago, that he did not wish to be disturbed.