By Angus Berwick
OXFORD, England, Sept 14 (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama said on
Monday more research was needed to settle the fate of the man he
named as the Panchen Lama, the second-highest figure in Tibetan
Buddhism, who vanished two decades ago but is said by the
Chinese to be living a normal life.
Gendun Choekyi Nyima, now 26, disappeared shortly after he
was declared by the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet to be the
reincarnation of the Panchen Lama when he was six years old.
His fate, which is just one area of contention between China
and the Dalai Lama over Tibet, continues to be a deep concern to
many Tibetans and he remains one of China's most zealously
guarded state secrets.
A senior Chinese official said earlier this month Gendun
Choekyi Nyima was "being educated, growing up healthily and does
not want to be disturbed".
The Chinese Communist Party has long maintained that Gendun
Choekyi Nyima is not the real Panchen Lama, and in 1995, the
government selected Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama.
The Chinese government sees the appointment of the next
Dalai Lama as key to consolidating state control over Tibet,
where separatist movements have flared since the 1950s, and to
undermining the present Dalai Lama's influence.
"I think the Chinese government is more concerned with the
Dalai Lama institution than myself," the Dalai Lama said on
Monday at a news conference at Oxford University.
The Dalai Lama acknowledged reports on Gendun Choekyi Nyima,
but said evidence was needed to make them credible.
"Some friends say that my Panchen Lama is still alive (...)
and he has also had the opportunity to make a family," he said.
But he added: "We need more research. Unless we do the
research, (it's) no use to make a comment like that."
The 80-year-old Dalai Lama fled to India after a failed
uprising against Chinese rule in 1959. Beijing says he is a
violent separatist but the Buddhist monk denies espousing
violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet.
He has not met British prime minister David Cameron during
this visit, which comes a month before Chinese president Xi
Jinping is due to make his first official state visit to
Britain.
A meeting between Cameron and the Dalai Lama in 2013
triggered a diplomatic spat between Britain and China.
(Editing by Ralph Boulton)