Dalai Lama taken to New Delhi hospital for chest pain

NEW DELHI, India - The Dalai Lama has undergone a check-up at a New Delhi hospital following chest pains, according to an aide who said the octogenarian Tibetan spiritual leader was in stable condition.

Ngodup Tsering, the 83-year-old Buddhist monk's representative in the United States, told AFP the Dalai Lama flew to New Delhi early Tuesday for a doctor's visit at Max hospital after he experienced a "light cough."

"The doctor said there's nothing to worry about. It's not that serious," Tsering said, without confirming whether the Dalai Lama had been admitted for hospital treatment. "He's taking a few days' rest."

Kangra police superintendent Santosh Patial told The Indian Express that the Dalai Lama, who is based in Dharamshala and has been in permanent Indian exile for some 60 years, took a regular morning flight Tuesday and was not airlifted.

"There is nothing to panic," he added.

Although the exiled leader remains a hugely popular speaker, he has cut back on his global engagements and has not met a world leader since 2016 -- while governments have been wary of extending invitations to him for fear of angering Beijing.

The Dalai Lama has sought to pre-empt any attempt by Beijing, which has effectively wiped out any organized opposition to its rule in Tibet, to name his reincarnated successor, even announcing in 2011 that he may be the last in the lineage.

Even India, which offered asylum to the Dalai Lama in 1959 when he made a daring escape across the Himalayas dressed as a soldier, has turned its back, with the government reportedly warning officials against attending events featuring him, citing diplomatic sensitivities.

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source: news.abs-cbn.com

China says countering Dalai Lama is top ethnic priority in Tibet

BEIJING - China will make countering the Dalai Lama's influence the "highest priority" in its work on ethnic affairs in Tibet, the region's Communist Party boss has said, vowing to uproot the monk's "separatist and subversive" activities.

Beijing says its Communist troops peacefully liberated Tibet in 1950 and regards the 80-year-old, Nobel Peace Prize-winning Buddhist monk as a separatist.

The self-exiled Dalai Lama says he merely seeks genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.

China's Foreign Ministry expressed anger and threatened countermeasures this month after the Tibetan spiritual leader spoke at the European Parliament in France.

"First, we must deepen the struggle against the Dalai Lama clique, make it the highest priority in carrying out our ethnic affairs, and the long-term mission of strengthening ethnic unity," Tibet party secretary Wu Yingjie said in a speech published on Friday in the official Tibet Daily.

"(We must) thoroughly expose the reactionary nature of the fourteenth Dalai Lama, crack down on separatist and subversive activities, and strive to eliminate at their roots harmful elements that damage ethnic unity," Wu said.

Public veneration of the Dalai Lama, who fled China in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule, is prohibited in Tibet, though in private, many Tibetans revere the monk and display his picture.

Identifying the effort to crack down on his influence the top task in the region's ethnic affairs suggests Wu will ratchet up the government's already hardline approach in the devoutly Buddhist region, which is prone to anti-Chinese unrest.

Wu was appointed Tibet's top official in late August, and has vowed stronger criticism of the Dalai Lama.

The government rejects criticism from rights groups and exiles who accuse it of trampling on the religious and cultural rights of the Tibetan people, saying instead that its rule has brought prosperity to a once-backward region.

Nonetheless, China faces no shortage of problems in the region, including those stemming from poverty, language barriers, and development that has at times clashed with a traditional herding lifestyle.

Tibetans, one of China's 56 officially recognised minority groups, are guaranteed legal protection for their languages and cultures. But they are often marginalised and treated with suspicion by Beijing, which views them as potential separatists.

Officials see ethnic affairs work, such as improving Mandarin proficiency among minorities, as key to ensuring national cohesion and creating economic opportunity.

There has been resistance to greater Mandarin education in schools in Tibet, with people fearing the government wants to culturally assimilate them. The government denies that.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Dalai Lama, in Europe, urges 'constructive criticism' of China

STRASBOURG - Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, said on Thursday the European Union should offer "constructive criticism" of China.

Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, he said he hoped that the Tibetan issue would be resolved but urged the outside world and the European Union in particular not to hold back from criticising Beijing.

Communist troops marched in and took control of Tibet in 1950 in what Beijing calls a "peaceful liberation". The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 following a failed uprising against the Chinese.

"Some constructive criticism is sometime necessary, helpful," the Dalai Lama told reporters.

Beijing denounces the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist who wants an independent Tibet. He denies espousing violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for his Himalayan homeland.

Contact between the Dalai Lama and foreign governments is frequently a source of friction with Beijing. Although a guest of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, the Dalai Lama did not meet French government officials while in France.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com