(TibetanReview.net, Aug29’24) – The Chinese government-appointed 11th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu – who replaced the government-kidnapped, Dalai Lama-appointed Gedhun Choekyi Nyima in 1995 – has “returned” to Lhasa on Aug 28 after touring the prefecture-level city of Nyingtri, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency Aug 28. Before Nyingtri, he toured Nagchu, another prefecture-level city in Tibet Autonomous Region, where he reportedly promoted China’s Sinicization drive among the Tibetan monastic community there.
The “Panchen Rinpoche” arrived in Nyingchi on Aug 22. During his stay there, he inspected rural vitalization work in a village of the Deng minority in Zayu County, visited a local family, and toured a kiwi fruit plantation base, the report said.
The report did not say anything about any political activities he carried out during the tour. It said that on Aug 26, he delivered a lecture and performed head-touching rituals for monks and believers in a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in Zayu. He visited a tea planting base and a tea processing plant in Bome County the next day.
The Chinese government-appointed Panchen Rinpoche, who lives in Beijing, appears to have begun this year’s tour of the Tibetan regions from Golog Prefecture, Qinghai Province. The report said that on Jun 25, the “Panchen Rinpoche” travelled from Golog to Lhasa. During his time in Lhasa, he performed his regular duties at the Tibet Branch of the Buddhist Association of China and carried out a series of social research and religious activities, it added.
The report noted that the “Panchen Rinpoche” is a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the country’s top political advisory body. He is also vice president of the Buddhist Association of China and president of the association’s Xizang branch.
China expects him to use these positions to win the Tibetan people’s loyalty to the Communist party state of China and its Sinicization of their religion and culture drive. He is also expected to play a key role in selecting a Chinese government approved “reincarnation” of the current Dalai Lama in future.
Meanwhile, the fate of the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, abducted by China within days of being recognized and proclaimed by the Dalai Lama in 1995 at the age of 6, continues to remain one of China’s best kept secrets.