China trying for global Buddhist support in selection of future Dalai Lama: Report

Colombo [Sri Lanka], January 19 (ANI): China strongly condemned the Tibetan spiritual leader 14th Dalai Lama's visit to Sri Lanka as Beijing wanted to strengthen its position in the reincarnation debate on the next Dalai Lama. China also wanted global Buddhist support during the selection of the future Dalai Lama, Tibet Rights Collective (TRC) reported.
Earlier, Charge d'affaires Hu Wei of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka stated that "the government and people of China including in the Tibet Autonomous Region strongly oppose any foreign country to receive the Dalai Lama in any name".
According to TRC, China has stepped up its Buddhist outreach to Sri Lanka, which remain a major Buddhist nation and is also being targeted by Beijing under its Debt-Trap Diplomacy.
China aim to build a global Buddhist coalition that will also support its positive view of China's occupation of Tibet.
Interestingly, China is using Gandharan Buddhism in Pakistan to lure Sri Lankan Buddhists to historical sites like Taxila and Gandhara to promote Pakistan as the originator country of Buddhism, just to achieve their aim.
Charge d'affaires Hu Wei of the Chinese Embassy met with Mahanayake Thero of the Malwathu chapter of Siam Nikaya, Most Venerable Thibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thero in Kandy.
This comes after the group of high-ranking Sri Lankan Buddhist Monks, who were on a pilgrimage to Bodh Gaya recently sought Dalai Lama's visit to Sri Lanka, which is reeling under a severe economic crisis.
In the press statement, the Chinese embassy said, that the 14th Dalai Lama is not a "simple monk", but "a political exile disguised as a religious figure who has long been engaging in anti-China separatist activities and attempting to split Tibet from China"
This is a narrative peddled by the Chinese Communist Party to portray the 14th Dalai Lama, who was forced into exile when his homeland was invaded by CCP, as a "splittist," reported TRC.
This should be seen as another attempt by the CCP to strengthen its position in the reincarnation debate of the Dalai Lama. China's "debt-trap diplomacy" refers to providing large loans to developing countries, often for infrastructure projects, with the alleged intention of trapping those countries in a cycle of debt and dependency on China.
The Sri Lankan example demonstrates China's unique form of 'debt-trap diplomacy' - a predatory system designed to trap countries into a straightjacket of debt servitude reported TRC. (ANI)