China’s United Front chief stresses ‘Sinicization of religions’ as Dalai Lama’s move on his reincarnation plan nears

 The head of China’s United Front Work Department, the Communist Party body that oversees religious organisations, has warned faith groups to guard against “hidden dangers in the religious field and resolutely resist foreign infiltration,” becoming only the latest top Chinese leader to address the issue ahead of the Dalai Lama’s 90^th birthday on Jul 6, reported the scmp.com Jul 21

Li Ganjie, who is also a party Politburo member, visited a number of religious organisations this week to deliver the warning, the report said, citing China’s state news agency Xinhua. These have included the Buddhist Association of China, the Chinese Taoist Association, the Islamic Association of China, the Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association, the Bishops’ Conference of the Catholic Church in China and other national religious groups in Beijing.

Echoing President Xi Jinping, Li has said the religious groups “must systematically promote the Sinicization of religion” and adhere to core socialist values.

China remains apprehensive whether the Dalai Lama will speak on the issue of his reincarnation on the occasion of his 90^th birthday, as indicated by him earlier, and what adverse effect it will have on its decision to choose its own 15^th Dalai Lama reincarnation when the time comes, in defiance of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

The Dalai Lama has already stressed that he will reincarnate outside the People’s Republic of China so long as the issue of Tibet remained unresolved.

The report noted that Li’s visits and remarks followed a series of similar warnings by senior figures, including President Xi, who called for continued efforts to promote the “Sinicization of religion” in a meeting with the legitimacy-challenged  11^th Panchen Lama Gyaincain Norbu earlier this month.

The Panchen Lama is the second most prominent religious figure in Tibetan Buddhism, after the Dalai Lama. However, Gyaincain Norbu lacks legitimacy as China appointed him after kidnapping and disappearing the 11^th Panchen Lama Gedhun Choekyi Nyima recognised months earlier by the Dalai Lama, way back in 1995.

Also earlier this month, China’s top security official, Chen Wenqing, the head of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, too called for the defeat of “separatism” during a visit to Qinghai province, a historically Tibetan region and the birthplace of the current Dalai Lama.

The slew of Chinese leaders checking on religious matters comes just weeks before the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday, the report noted.

Li has told the religious groups that religions should gradually develop “Chinese characteristics” in their doctrines, management, rituals, customs and behavioural norms and stressed the importance of avoiding “risks and hidden dangers”.

He has also stressed the need for religious leaders who were “politically reliable, religiously accomplished, morally convincing and play a role at critical times”.

During his Jun 6 meeting, President Xi was stated to have expressed hope that Gyaincain Norbu, as the 11^th Panchen Lama chosen by China, would “work hard to become a Tibetan living Buddha with profound knowledge of Buddhism, beloved by monks and lay followers, and take the lead in obeying the law and adhering to the precepts”.