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The Straits Times (4 July 2025)

A senior Indian minister has said that only the Dalai Lama and the organisation he has set up have the authority to identify his successor as the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, in a rare comment contradicting rival China's long-held position.

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, said on Wednesday (Jul 2) that upon his death he would be reincarnated as the next spiritual leader and that only the Gaden Phodrang Trust would be able to identify his successor. He previously said the person will be born outside China.

Beijing says it has the right to approve the Dalai Lama's successor as a legacy from imperial times.

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