New Delhi, Jul 13, 2025: China has once again raised objections to the Dalai Lama’s succession, calling it a persistent “thorn” in India-China relations, just days before Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar heads to China for a high-level diplomatic visit.
In a post on platform X, Chinese embassy spokesperson Yu Jing criticized recent remarks by Indian strategic experts and ministers supporting the Tibetan spiritual leader’s right to determine his successor. “The reincarnation and succession of the Dalai Lama is inherently an internal affair of China,” Yu wrote, adding that “playing the Xizang (Tibet) card will end up shooting oneself in the foot.”
The comments come after Indian ministers, including Parliamentary and Minority Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju, attended Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday celebrations and echoed the spiritual leader’s assertion that Beijing has no role in his succession. Rijiju, a practising Buddhist, said only the Dalai Lama and his institution have the authority to determine his reincarnation.
The Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile in India since 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, has long been a sensitive subject in China-India diplomacy. India is home to the Tibetan government-in-exile and nearly 70,000 Tibetan refugees, a fact that Beijing sees as a strategic challenge.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs, while distancing itself from the religious aspects, reiterated on July 4 that it does not comment on matters of faith and spiritual practices.
High-Level Diplomatic Visit
Minister Jaishankar is set to travel to Tianjin, China, on July 15 to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) regional security summit, where he is expected to hold bilateral meetings with Chinese officials on the sidelines.
This marks one of the highest-level visits since the deadly border clash in Galwan Valley in 2020, which resulted in the deaths of at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers, plunging bilateral ties to their lowest in decades.
Just weeks earlier, India’s Defence Minister held talks with his Chinese counterpart in China on the sidelines of an SCO defence ministers’ meeting, signaling a cautious thaw in relations.
