China said Gendun Choekyi Nyima, Dalai Lama's nominee as the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibetan Buddhists, was 'free' and is growing up like other Chinese children.
BEIJING: Assuring the international community China on Tuesday said Gendun Choekyi Nyima, Dalai Lama's nominee as the 11th Panchen Lama of Tibetan Buddhists, was 'free' and is growing up like other Chinese children.
"The child you mentioned is growing up like other teenagers and enjoys free life like other children in China," Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao said when asked to comment on the whereabouts of Gendun Choekyi Nyima, who has
reportedly vanished after he was nominated by the Dalai Lama to be the 11th Panchen Lama in 1995.
Pro-Dalai Lama groups say Gendun Choekyi Nyima, 17, has been under house arrest since the India-based Dalai Lama, Tibet's highest religious leader, appointed him 11th Panchen Lama in 1995.
The Dalai Lama's unilateral announcement angered Beijing which then endorsed Gyaincain Norbu as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died in 1989.
Gyaincain Norbu was approved by the Chinese central government as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama in November 1995 after a lot drawing ceremony among three candidates in the Jokhang Temple in Tibet's regional capital of Lhasa.
Liu also refuted as 'groundless' the charge by the International Campaign for Tibet, a pro-Dalai Lama group, that China has stepped up 'religious persecution' in Tibet of the followers of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
"We express our strong dissatisfaction and anger to the accusation, which is groundless," he said, adding Tibetan are guaranteed to enjoy 'normal' religious freedoms in Tibet.
"I don't know what is the basis for their accusations," Liu said, a day after China lashed out at the Dalai Lama for seeking 'independence for Tibet' in a covert way by proposing 'true autonomy' for Tibet.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}