New Delhi [India], September 13 (ANI): Lobsang Sangay, former Tibetan Prime Minister in exile, warned that China wants to exert control over everything and its 'tentacles are everywhere.'

He said the selection of the successor of the Dalai Lama has major geopolitical ramifications among all the neighbouring countries and around the world. 'Chinese world order is what we experienced as Tibetans.'

Sangay warned that China only desires control, just as they are exerting control over the Dalai Lama issue.

'You think you can have relations, you can deal with the Chinese, but you have no idea what the Chinese system, the Chinese world order is. They want to control everything. They want to control the selection of Dalai Lama because they want to control, like they're already doing in Xinjiang, they're controlling all the imams. They say, no, you're not the real imam. People accept you. Nope, this is the guy we like, you know. And they control Tibetan lamas. They control priests, you know, and bishops,' he said.

Sangay said that China might also try to exert control over other Buddhist offices across other nations. China may then also interfere in their internal affairs.

'[For China] This religion is poison. This religion is an enemy. Yet they want to control it. So that's why I say it's a very dangerous game. If you allow the Chinese government to control the office of the Dalai Lama, they might control the offices of other Buddhist leaders in Southeast Asia, let's say in Sri Lanka, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand. If China becomes number one, you know, the power in the world, they will not just interfere in your political affairs. They will interfere in economic affairs. They will interfere in spiritual matters as well,' he told ANI.

Sangay, while speaking to ANI, said that China does not respect Buddhism and rather is trying to dilute it.

'Yeah, it's control. They just want to control the office. They don't care about reincarnation, spirituality. They just want to control the office. And at the same time, they want to destroy the office. For example, even the fake Panchen Lama, he spent all his years in Beijing. He should be spending his time in a monastery in Tibet studying, right? When you spend all your years in Beijing, you lose your credibility,' he said.

'So they control the office of the Panchen Lama, but at the same time, they are trying to dilute and destroy the value of the Panchen Lama's office,' he added.

He further jested in the hyperbole, 'They will say, this is not the Shankaracharya. This Shankaracharya is what I like!'

Sangay further told ANI that this is what China did with the Vatican wherein on September 22, 2018, the Chinese government and the Vatican signed a historic agreement concerning the appointment of bishops in China. Described by the parties as a 'provisional agreement', the agreement's text has not been disclosed.

'They are already doing with the Vatican, right? They had a deal with the Vatican whereby they would appoint the bishop, and the Vatican has endorsed it. And who's to say they will appoint the next cardinal and thereby next time they will say, hey, Pope, selection of Pope. So this is the Chinese world order we should be aware of or we should be careful about. So Chinese world order is what we experienced as Tibetans. So that's what we always say,' he said.

He further said that China's insistence on choosing the Dalai Lama is a global issue.

'And soon cardinals in China, similarly they will tell all the neighbouring countries as well and say, not this, not that. So this is the Chinese world order. And their tentacles are everywhere and they want to control everything. So the selection of the Dalai Lama has major geopolitical ramifications among all the neighbouring countries and around the world,' he said.

China's government asserts it will appoint the next Dalai Lama's successor, stating a selection method involving the golden urn and central government approval, a claim the current Dalai Lama and Tibetans reject. The 14th Dalai Lama has indicated his successor will be born in the 'free world,' outside of China. (ANI)