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China tells India not to interfere
in Tibetan affairs: PTI

China Tuesday asked India not to interfere in Tibetan affairs, by allowing the 17th Karmapa Lama to be used by any foreign force to engage in anti-China activities from Indian soil.

"China and India are neighbours. Both countries adhere to the five principles of peaceful co-existence and pursue particularly the policy of mutual respect and non-interference in each others' internal affairs," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Sun Yuxi told reporters.

"The Indian Government has explicitly stated that it will not allow the Karmapa to engage in any anti-China activities, nor will it allow any foreign force to use him to engage in such activities," Sun said.

"It is our hope that the Indian Government will continue to adhere to these principles and properly and prudently handle the relevant issues in accordance with the overall interests of bilateral relations," he said.

The Chinese response came in the wake of reports that India has granted 'refugee' status to the 15-year-old Karmapa, who fled Tibet last year to take shelter in the Dharamsala.

The Indian embassy has not confirmed the reports.

The then 14-year-old boy Lama, one of the topmost leaders of Tibetan Buddhism, had fled Tibet to the Dharamsala in January last year under mysterious circumstances.

On why the Chinese Government reaction to the Indian 'decision' was low-key, Sun said China has made representations to India on this issue to which the Indian side has made "explicit commitments".

"It is our hope that the Indian side will honour its commitment," Sun said.

The spokesman stressed that Karmapa was only 15 years old and China was opposed to any attempts by anybody to use him to engage in anti-China activities.

The cultural minister in the Tibetan government-in-exile Tashi Wangdi said India had allowed the 17th Karmapa Lama to stay in India like other Tibetan refugees who have fled the Himalayan region.

"A request was made to the Indian Government last year to allow Karmapa to live in India, the request was granted and the decision conveyed to the Tibetan government last week," Wangdi said in a statement.

China still maintains that the boy Lama went to India to reclaim the traditional black crown kept in the Rumtek monastery in Sikkim for nearly 20 years.

Karmapa's departure from Tibet led to speculation that he was being groomed to succeed the Dalai Lama as political and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people.

The Dalai Lama fled to India from Tibet in 1959 after a failed armed uprising against Chinese rule in the Himalayan region.

EXTERNAL LINKS
The Government of Tibet in Exile

His Holiness the Seventeenth Gyalwa Karmapa Ugyen Trinley Dorje

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