(TibetanReview.net, Sep11’24) – The Chinese government Appointed “11th Panchen Lama reincarnation” Gyaincain Norbu has on Jul 18 called on the Tibetan people to firmly uphold the final say of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on the reincarnation issue while expressing strong opposition to secession.
Chairing a seminar on a themed exhibition of the reincarnation of Living Buddhas of Tibetan Buddhism, he stressed the need to firmly uphold the CPC Central Committee’s final say on the reincarnation of Living Buddhas of Tibetan Buddhism and voiced strong opposition to secession, while calling for national unity, ethnic unity, and religious and social harmony, reported China’s official Xinhua news agency Sep 10.
It was stated to be one of several meetings he chaired during his ongoing months-long tour of the Tibetan areas of the People’s Republic of China.
The report said that over the past few months, Gyaincain Norbu had performed his regular duties at the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) branch of the Buddhist Association of China, and carried out a series of Buddhist and social activities in Tibet’s capital Lhasa.
He was previously reported to have visited Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai Province, and Nagchu and Nyingtri prefecture-level cities in that order, setting out from Lhasa and returning to it each time.
On Sep 3, he was unanimously “elected” the president of the TAR branch of the Buddhist Association of China at the first council meeting of the branch’s 12th council. This was his “re-election” after his first “election” in 2021,
The report said that on Sep 1, Gyaincain Norbu concluded his Buddhist and social activities in Lhasa and arrived by train in Xigaze (Shigatse), “where he will continue with a series of similar engagements.”
Shigatse is home to Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, the historical seat of the successive Panchen Lama reincarnations, although the 10th Panchen Lama and his supposed successor Gyaincain Norbu have spent very little time in it as China required them to live in Beijing under close supervision and guidance of the party’s United Front Work Department.
As regards the 11th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, his fate has continued to remain unknown ever since he was abducted, with his family, by the Chinese government in 1995, just days after he was recognized and proclaimed by the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.
Gyaincain Norbu is currently also a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, China’s top political advisory body, and a vice president of the Buddhist Association of China.
The Panchen Lama is Tibet’s second most prominent religious figure, although tis cannot be said of Gyaincain Norbu.