A boy chosen as the Panchen Lama disappeared in 1995. China says he’s now a college grad with a job

By installing its own choice as the Panchen Lama and disappearing Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, China avoided him becoming another prominent opposition figure in the mold of the Dalai Lama, who has lived in exile since fleeing Beijing-controlled Tibet in 1959 and is regularly denounced by Chinese authorities and blamed for any Tibetan unrest in China. Since becoming an adult, Gyancain Norbu has occupied an increasingly high profile role, joining a top Chinese political body and often appearing at important events in Beijing.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also denounced “China’s persecution” of Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and called on Beijing to “make public the Panchen Lama’s whereabouts” and respect Tibetans’ freedom of religion.

The most important purpose of the Panchen Lama from Beijing’s perspective is the role he traditionally plays in identifying the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, revered as a living god by Tibetan Buddhists. With the current holder of that title, Tenzin Gyatso, now 84, there’s a strong chance that a successor will be needed sooner rather than later.

For his part, the current Dalai Lama has said his successor could be found outside Tibet, and also suggested he may not reincarnate at all, making him the last person to hold that title. In recent years, he has moved to secularize the Tibetan government in exile, ceding non-religious authority to political figures, a stark contrast to the theocratic society once ruled over in Tibet by his predecessors.

“It is a reality that no one else can force the person concerned, or manipulate him or her,” the Dalai Lama said. “It is particularly inappropriate for Chinese communists, who explicitly reject even the idea of past and future lives, let alone the concept of reincarnate Tulkus, to meddle in the system of reincarnation and especially the reincarnations of the Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas.”