New Delhi, July 7 -- Since the invasion and occupation of Tibet, China has worked assiduously to imprison and kill Tibetans and destroy Tibetan culture to assimilate the Tibetan population into its communist ideology, immune to the genocide and hundreds of monks and Tibetan youth self-immolating in protests.

Panchen Lama is second to Dalai Lama in spiritual authority, whose key role is to identify reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, recognised by the Dalai Lama as the 11th Panchen Lama, was imprisoned by China in 1995 and went missing, probably killed. Instead, China installed its own nominee Gyaincain Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama.

According to China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning, "The reincarnation of the...