China, India and the conflict over Buddhism, Pg8

Key Highlights:

• The real strategic front between India and China lies not in the oceans but in the Himalayas, revolving around faith and identity.
• China has institutionalized control over Tibetan Buddhism, including a 2007 regulation that all reincarnated lamas must be approved by the state.
• India has hosted the Tibetan government-in-exile and the 14th Dalai Lama since 1959 but has only recently started Buddhist diplomacy.
• A future scenario of two rival Dalai Lamas — one chosen by China, another by the Tibetan exile community — could create religio-political divisions across Himalayan regions.
• China is actively building Buddhist infrastructure in Nepal, Bhutan, and Arunachal Pradesh to assert soft power and territorial claims.
• Internal splits within Buddhist schools (like Karmapa and Dorje Shugden) are being used by both India and China as strategic leverage.
• Control over monasteries and lineages is shaping local loyalties in sensitive border regions such as Ladakh, Tawang, and Sikkim.

Detailed Insights:

• Monasteries and reincarnations have become geopolitical tools, turning religious practices into assertions of state sovereignty.
• China's "Buddhist statecraft" involves controlling religious legitimacy, building infrastructure, and co-opting monastic leaders to extend soft power.
• India’s approach remains fragmented and reactive, focused more on cultural promotion than long-term strategic planning.
• The Dalai Lama's succession is the epicentre of the current contest. The spiritual and symbolic importance of the next Dalai Lama will have geopolitical consequences.
• Border populations in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Nepal, and Bhutan may be forced to choose spiritual-political allegiance, influencing regional alignments.
• China's claims on Tawang are based on the birthplace of the 6th Dalai Lama, showing how religious history is used to validate territorial claims.
• Disputes within Tibetan Buddhist sects like the Karma Kagyu lineage are increasingly becoming proxy conflicts between Indian and Chinese interests.
• In the Himalayan terrain where infrastructure is limited, religious institutions serve as power nodes. A shift in allegiance of a monastery can impact the strategic control of a region.
• After the current Dalai Lama, the succession crisis could become international, with countries like Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Nepal potentially drawn into the controversy.
• India has a strategic opportunity in influencing the next phase of Himalayan Buddhism but must develop a coherent policy integrating culture, diplomacy, and security.

Way Forward:

• Develop a strategic Buddhist policy integrating spiritual heritage with foreign and security policy.
• Strengthen ties with Himalayan Buddhist communities across India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Mongolia.
• Support monastic autonomy to counter state-backed religious influence by China.
• Coordinate cultural diplomacy through regional forums like BIMSTEC and India-Nepal-Bhutan trilaterals.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Soft Power Diplomacy: Use of cultural, historical, and ideological tools to shape global or regional influence without coercion.
• Golden Urn Method: Traditional Qing dynasty system used to approve reincarnated lamas, now claimed by China for political control.
• Line of Actual Control (LAC): The de facto boundary between India and China; adjacent to many contested Buddhist regions.