Visitors can visit the Potala Palace in Lhasa, capital city of southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, June 3, 2020. PHOTO XINHUA BEIJING -- Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that China strongly opposes US interference in China's internal affairs on Tibet related issues under the pretext of religious freedom.
Wang spoke at a regular press briefing in response to a statement issued by the US State Department urging China to disclose the whereabouts and well-being of the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama.
Wang said that the Chinese government pursues policies of freedom of religious belief, including respecting and protecting the reincarnation of Living Buddhas, an institution of inheritance in Tibetan Buddhism.
A complete set of methods and procedures have been established over the centuries for the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, the Panchen Lama, and other grand living Buddhas, and religious rituals and historical conventions, as well as Chinese laws, need to be complied with in this process, Wang said.
When he was abroad, the Dalai Lama took the liberty of declaring a child to be the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama in order to carry out anti-China separatist political hype to the detriment of religious rituals and disregard of historical conventions, and Wang said that the 14th Dalai Lama is an anti-China separatist under the cloak of religion.
This is illegal and invalid, Wang stressed, adding that the so-called reincarnated child is just an ordinary Chinese citizen living a normal life. He and his family do not want their normal life to be disturbed by others.
Wang said that the US side should fully understand and respect their wishes, rather than take the opportunity to engage in political manipulations and attack and discredit China.
If the United States cares about human rights and religious freedom, why did it carry out the all round and systematic ethnic cleansing of Indian Americans? He said that the US side should provide a convincing explanation.