Taiwan News
February 24, 2013
Former Deputy Defense Minister Lin Chong-pin said Sunday that China is likely to resume contact with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama under the leadership of China’s president-in-waiting Xi Jinping. Lin said at a regional peace forum that once Xi stabilizes the situation in China and deals with the domestic and foreign issues, he may resume contact with the Dalai Lama or engage in dialogue with Tibet. Xi is scheduled to take over from President Hu Jintao in March. Lin noted that Xi’s father Xi Zhongxun, China’s late vice premier, was on friendly terms with the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama, who is next in rank after the Dalai Lama. After the Tibetan leader went into exile, Xi Zhongxun publicly displayed a watch given to him by the Dalai Lama, Lin said, adding that Xi’s wife Peng Liyuan is a Buddhist. Lin said that despite China’s adherence to atheism, billions of Chinese are religious followers and some former Chinese leaders also held religious beliefs. Former Chinese President Jiang Zemin was known to recite Buddhist scriptures, according to Master Hsing Yun, founder of the Fo Guang Shan Monastery in Taiwan.
