As India and China duel over the role and purpose of the Dalai Lama, Beijing has quietly stepped up its attempt to co-opt Buddhism. By doing so, Beijing hopes not only to ensure that the next Dalai Lama is appointed by them, but also enhance its soft power and influence not just within China, but in places like Nepal and Southeast Asia where Buddhism is still practiced. Take the attempts by China to invest huge sums of money in Lumbini, Nepal, the birthplace of the Buddha.
Earlier in the decade, then Chinese President Hu Jintao began promoting a “harmonious society” as part of his socio-economic vision, and Party officials started working on the premise that religion, carefully managed, could be used to build such a society. Soon afterwards, Chinese media started describing Buddhism as an ancient Chinese religion. The 14th Dalai Lama escaped from Tibet to India in 1959 following the Chinese takeover of Lhasa, and is seen by the Chinese as a ‘splittist’ who could cause trouble in what the Chinese now call the Tibetan Autonomous Region, or TAR.
After Chinese attempts to invest $3 billion in Lumbini in 2011—which included an airport and allocation of land to senior Buddhist leaders of various sects—were quietly scuttled by India, Beijing has revived it again recently. According to a warning put out earlier by a New Delhi think tank, the Lumbini project would “help China achieve its long-term strategic goal of bringing Nepal irrevocably under its influence”.
According to one report, there are already 35 Beijing-financed China Study Centres strung along Nepal’s border with India. Though Nepal’s PM Pushpa Kamal Dahal— accused of being ‘pro-India’ by Beijing— did not sign any agreements during his week-long visit to China in March, he did say the two countries would move together “on the path of common prosperity, executing all past agreements”. If that includes Lumbini, India, and Buddhism, have their task cut out.
