The 11th Panchen Lama, designated by the Dalai Lama as the spiritual leader in exile in Tibet, has been missing for nearly 26 years. April 25 was his 32nd birthday, but his whereabouts remain unknown. The U.S. government has called on the Chinese Communist government to disclose his whereabouts and has condemned the religious persecution of Tibet by the authorities.
Born on April 25, 1989, after being recognized by the Dalai Lama as the reincarnation of the Tenth Panchen Erdeni, the Tibetan Tseten Chogyi Nyima was secretly detained by the Chinese Communist Party from May 17, 1995, and his whereabouts remain unknown.
On May 14, 1995, the Dalai Lama recognized Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, a 6-year-old boy, as the reincarnated spiritual child of the Panchen Lama. Three days later Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his family were taken away by the Chinese Communist authorities, and his whereabouts remain unknown, while Beijing selected a different boy to be the Panchen Lama.
U.S. State Department spokesman Ned Price.
State Department Calls for Release, Opportunity to Meet
State Department spokesman Ned Price made a point of bringing up the disappearance of the Panchen Lama at a regular press conference on the 22nd, reiterating the U.S. government’s support for Tibetans’ religious freedom and respect for Tibetans’ right to choose their own leaders according to their beliefs without government interference.
“We call on the Chinese Communist government to immediately announce the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama, who is revered by Tibetans, and to give us this opportunity to meet with him personally.” Price said.
Central Secretary of Tibetan Administration Lobsang Sangay had visited the White House last November to meet with Robert Destro, then the newly appointed Special Coordinator for Tibet. It was the first time in 60 years that a leader of the Tibetan Administrative Central Committee visited the White House.
He told our Tibetan desk that he appreciated the State Department’s statement: “I especially want to thank the State Department for urging the Chinese Communist Party to publicly announce the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama and [for] calling for an opportunity to meet with him. This is one of the strongest statements about the Panchen Lama to date.”
Where exactly is the Panchen Lama, who has been missing for 26 years?
April 25 is the birthday of the 11th Panchen Lama Gendun Choekyi Nyima, who has been missing for 24 years, and the world has only one photo of him as a child. (Perverted Pepper)
Last year, 25 years after the disappearance of the Panchen Lama, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters that Gendun Chogyi Nyima had graduated from university and had a stable career, saying that neither Gendun Chogyi Nyima nor his family wanted to be disturbed from their “normal life at the moment”.
In the more than 20 years since the Panchen Lama’s disappearance, the Chinese government’s responses to international inquiries have appeared to be nothing but excuses, with no knowledge of the Panchen Lama’s current condition. Kunga Tashi, former head of the Dalai Lama’s North American representative office for Chinese affairs, told Radio Free Asia that questions have been raised by international organizations, governments and UN agencies, but the Chinese Communist Party has not provided any credible evidence.
“Where exactly is he? What school does he go to? In which position does he work? So far the Chinese Communist government has no answer.” Gongazashi said, “It’s been 25 years, and where exactly he is, no one knows.”
Designation of New Panchen Lama as a Communist Propaganda Tool
The U.S. Congressional-affiliated Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) also issued a statement on the 23rd calling on the Chinese Communist government to unconditionally release the Panchen Lama Gendun Chogyi Nyima. In the statement, Commissioner Nury Turkel said that the Chinese Communist Party’s interference with the identification of the Dalai Lama and the reincarnated spiritual child of the Panchen Lama is “despicable” and called on the international community to unite and speak out for the freedom of the Panchen Lama.
The International Commission on Religious Freedom released its 2021 annual report on April 21, assessing the state of religious freedom worldwide in 2020. The report again lists the Communist Party of China as a “country of particular concern” for systematic, ongoing and grave violations of religious freedom, and calls on the U.S. government not to send officials to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing if the Communist Party continues to persecute religious freedom.
The report also cites the CCP’s continued control and oppression of Tibetan Buddhists. Chinese President Xi Jinping has emphasized the “Sinicization of Tibetan Buddhism” in recent years, stationing Communist Party members in monasteries and co-opting monks and nuns. Zeekgyab Rinpoche, the Fifth Hsik Gyab Rinpoche, told a hearing last year by the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) that the Communist Party’s Tibetan policy is an attempt to eliminate Tibetan ethnic and cultural identity by interfering with teaching and banning Tibetan language classes.
The Fifth Hsik Gyalpo Rinpoche was appointed by the Dalai Lama in 2019 as the Khenpo of Rishilhunpo Monastery in South India, which is the main residence of the Panchen Lama among the famous monasteries in Tibet. At the beginning of the hearing, the Fifth Hsik Gyalpo Rinpoche told the audience how important the Panchen Lama is to him and to Tibetan Buddhism, and again condemned the actions of the Chinese Communist government.
“The Chinese Communist government will definitely use the fake Panchen Lama to interfere with the reincarnation of the next Dalai Lama and other senior reincarnationists. Therefore all Tibetan Buddhists, and supporters of religious freedom around the world, should be deeply concerned.” He said.
Rinchen Tashi, head of the U.S.-based human rights group International Campaign for Tibet, said in an interview with the station that Gyaltsen Norbu, the Chinese Communist Party-appointed Panchen Lama, is officially scheduled to attend political events, including the National People’s Congress. Gyaltsen Norbu is not trusted or recognized by the Tibetans.
He also expressed sympathy for the CCP-appointed Panchen Lama: “The Panchen Lama chosen by the CCP government also does not have much personal freedom, and it seems like a kind of ‘farce’ to have him stay in Beijing during the week and come out to do some political propaganda work when needed.”
Last December, the U.S. Congress passed the Tibet Policy and Support Act, which reaffirms U.S. support for the right of Tibetan Buddhists to choose and honor their own religious leaders and commits to protecting Tibetans from human rights abuses by establishing a U.S. consulate in Lhasa and a Tibetan desk at the embassy in Beijing.
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