TibetNet[Tuesday, September 11, 2007 20:09] New Delhi -

Mr Bashistha Narain Singh, member of Indian Parliament and convener of the All Party Indian Parliamentary Forum for Tibet (APIPFT), expressed disappointment over the recent Order by China's State Administration of Religious Affairs, in a memorandum to the Chinese President Hu Jintao through the Ambassador of the PRC, here today.

"We are absolutely disappointed to learn that China's State Administration of Religious Affairs has come out with a document called the order no. 5, containing 14 articles on Management Measures for the Reincarnation of 'Living Buddhas' in Tibetan Buddhism which, it said, will take effect on 1 September", Mr Narain said, in a letter to President Hu Jintao.

DPA-
Taipei - Taiwan's President Chen Shui-bian on Saturday asked the Tibetan government-in-exile to join Taiwan in defying China and invited the Dalai Lama to visit Taiwan.

At a seminar on human rights in Tibet, Chen said Tibet is an important symbol of weak forces defying China's tyranny and seeking freedom under China's military threat. It is also a test of how the international community handles human rights, he said.

'Today Tibet and Taiwan face the same destiny, we both face China's threats. Therefore, Taiwan people can feel the hardships suffered by Tibetans, and Taiwan gives firm support and blessings to Tibetans' fight for self-determination,' he said.

'We respect the Dalai Lama's decisions regarding Tibet's future and hope that Taiwan and Tibet can have closer ties and support each other,' he added. 'We hope the Dalai Lama can visit Taiwan to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between the Tibetan government- in-exile and Taiwan.'

RFA 6/9
Chinese authorities in the southwestern Tibetan region of Lithang are removing ethnic Tibetan officials and replacing them with Chinese officials, in a crackdown on suspected separatism after a protest calling for the return of the exiled Dalai Lama.

Local sources also told RFA's Tibetan service that thousands of armed police have been shifted into the area. The official Ganzi Daily News has meanwhile reported that authorities in Lithang are launching a range of new measures to address instability, including more aggressive gathering of intelligence, preemptive resolution of disputes, and stepped-up criticism of the Dalai Lama as part of a "high tide of anti-splittist struggle."

AP:
WASHINGTON - The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday to allow the use of the U.S. Capitol rotunda for a ceremony next month to bestow Congress' highest civilian honor on the Dalai Lama.

Kyabje Dhakpa Rinpoche will be visiting Seramey monastery in December 2007.

Tibetan Government Press Release

Joint Statement to Repudiate the so-called Order no. 5 of China's State Administration of Religious Affairs on Management Measures for the Reincarnation of 'Living Buddhas' in Tibetan Buddhism

WASHINGTON—The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom voices its strong concern over the People’s Republic of China’s new regulations requiring government approval of “Living Buddhas,” which goes into effect on Saturday, Sept. 1. The regulations are clearly designed to undermine the influence of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans’ preeminent spiritual leader, and constitute continuing state violation of internationally guaranteed religious freedom rights in China.

The measures elaborate on Article 27 of China’s National Regulations on Religious Affairs issued in March 2005. The new regulations instruct all reincarnate Tibetan lamas to “respect and protect the principles of unification of the state” and declare that no “foreign organization or individual” shall “interfere” in the process of recognizing or enthroning Living Buddhas. In cases where reincarnate lamas have “a relatively large impact,” “a great impact,” or “a particularly great impact,” the regulations state, it is necessary to obtain approval from the provincial or regional governments, the national State Administration of Religious Affairs, or from the State Council, the highest government body in China.

“The Chinese government’s policy of suppressing religious freedom in Tibet, including its denial of the right of Tibetan Buddhists to select their own religious leaders, again demonstrates Beijing’s violation of international covenants recognizing the basic right of religious communities to choose their religious leaders and teachers,” said Commission Chair Michael Cromartie. “China continues to pursue unacceptable policies repressing Tibetan Buddhists.”

Tibet Custom London-

HH 14th Dalai Lama. has stated repeatedly over many years that his future incarnation will be born outside Tibet.

Chinese Control of Tibetan Buddhism reaches a critical juncture today, in a move which comes as something as a shock to the Tibetans in Tibet and around the world the Athiest Communist Government of China now demands the full control over who and who cannot be recognised as a reincarnation of a high Lama or "Living Buddha's" as the Chinese seem to refer to the incarnated lama's.

While seemingly almost humorous in it's audacity and comical to consider an athiest official having any say over these matters it is China's attempt to stamp out Buddhism in Tibet for good.

Beri Jingme Wangyal spoke on radio Free Asia last week and expressed the concern that now Chinese leaders are either joking or that they could possibly have it in their minds to appoint their own children into these positions.

China also stated that no incarnations may be born outside of Tibet / China, but traditionally many have always been born outside Tibet Nepal and India being examples, possibly China now intends to have juristiction of all countries where high Lama's might incarnate. Such a situation is ridiculous and not tenable, quite apart from the Spiritual absurdity of such new regulations.

RFA WASHINGTON—The selection of Tibetan reincarnate lamas, called living Buddhas in China, is now subject to approval by China’s officially atheist state, according to rules that go into effect Sept. 1.

The new regulations, issued in July as Order No. 5 by the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), forbid the naming of any reincarnate lama solely by traditional Tibetan procedures.

2006: A young reincarnate lama in Tibet. Photo: Palden Gyal/RFA

In a move apparently aimed at quelling separatist sentiment in Tibet, SARA’s Order No. 5 also declares, “Living Buddha reincarnations should respect and protect the principles of the unification of the state.”

Lodi Gyaltsen Gyari—special envoy of exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama—said in an Aug. 15 statement, “These stringent new measures strike at the heart of Tibetan religious identity. They will only create further resentment among the Tibetan people and cannot override the [Chinese Communist] Party’s lack of legitimacy in the sphere of religion.”

In an Aug. 31 statement, the congressionally mandated United States Commission on International Religious Freedom voiced “strong concern.”

“The regulations are clearly designed to undermine the influence of the Dalai Lama, the Tibetans’ preeminent spiritual leader, and constitute continuing state violation of internationally guaranteed religious freedoms in China,” the commission said.

The Panchen Lama (Gedhun Choekyi Nyima), Abducted by the Chinese Government in 1985 (Aged 6), since when all requests for access or news have been denied. No one knows how or where he is.

United Nations, Geneva, August 30 –

The disappearance of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the Eleventh Panchen Lama of Tibet, for the past 12 years remains a major unresolved issue for Tibetans and followers of Tibetan Buddhism.

as today the world observes the International Day of the Disappeared. The recent call for the Panchen Lama’s release by Ronggye Adak in his courageous Lithang protest clearly reveals the aspirations of the Tibetan people inside Tibet.

In a statement today, the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance (WGEID) of the UN Human Rights Council urged: "On the occasion of the International Day of the Disappeared, the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances acknowledges the importance that the United Nations grants to the issue of enforced disappearances, by declaring a day to commemorate this terrible practice. At the same time, in view of the continuous nature of this offence, victims of enforced disappearances whose fate or whereabouts remain unknown should not only be commemorated once a year. Rather, every day is a day of the disappeared.” Read More