The Dalai Lama was recently hospitalized due to a chest infection. The world renown Buddhist leader and Nobel Peace Prize recipient has since recovered but this incident has brought focus to a core doctrine in Buddhism: impermanence. All things are transient, Buddhist scripture states, and that includes the Dalai Lama.

When the Dalai Lama has passed on before, senior monks would go on journey to find his reincarnation, a practice that allowed the legacy to live on through the generations. For fourteen reincarnations, this quest was accomplished without hindrance.

But times have changed.

China invaded Tibet, the home of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Buddhism, in 1950. In the course of annexing the nation, they murdered hundreds of thousands of Tibetans. As a result of their control of the region and tight dominance, this long-standing tradition may, itself, suffer its own impermanence.

Chinese leadership has now weighed in on reincarnation, clearly indicating their intention to interfere with the succession.

According to CNN, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said there are “clear rules” regarding the reincarnation of “the living Buddha.”

“Reincarnation of living Buddhas, including the Dalai Lama, must comply with Chinese laws and regulations and follow religious rituals and historical conventions,” Lu said.

It’s not the first time the Chinese Communist Party has involved itself in a long-standing tradition. Three days after the Dalai Lama identified the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, the Chinese government kidnapped him. He has not been seen in over 20 years since.

Video of Jasic workers protest: as workers continue to voice their demands to unionise, the local ACFTU held a meeting with company representatives and announce the efforts to establish enterprise union enter a new stage “after 2 months of working together.” #unionAccountability pic.twitter.com/5CeTQbnE7W

— CLB (@chinalabour) July 24, 2018

After generations of teaching Lenin and Marx in schools, many students have taken the lessons to heart, willing to come to the aid of the proletariat. They had their opportunity after a strike broke out in a Shenzhen factory, a strike which led to an arrest of workers in late August, the largest such arrest since 2015.

Factory workers at Jasic Technology, which exports welding machine parts to U.S. companies, had been demanding the right to form a union but the company rejected their efforts. Learning the news, students from leading universities around the country decide to join the fight and organized rallies, which only really made sense given their education.

5天了，我们的兄弟姐妹——岳昕、梦雨等左翼青年，尚杨雪、唐向伟等被取保候审的工友，小胡、吴大哥等声援团中的工友，冯歌、展振振等进步学生依旧下落不明！腐朽的反动势力进行暴力清场是要一条道走到黑的。我们不再心存幻想，张圣业已发布清场事件亲历书，吹响了重新战斗的号角！黑暗不散，斗争不息！ pic.twitter.com/AJYpfpQ7MT

— 岳昕 (@yuexinmutian) August 29, 2018

(In this tweet posted by members of the student movement, they reiterate their “solidarity with the workers,” refer to their arrested “brothers and sisters,” and call the authorities “reactionary forces.”)

In fact, the very symbols of their resistance were ripped from old communist icons:  they carried portraits of Mao, sung socialist anthems, and repeated old party slogans such as one in a petition that reads, “Our ancestors’ baton is firmly in our hands. Long live the working class!” Like early party activists, they spoke out against poverty, worker rights and gender equality. They also point to the nation’s constitution which dictates that the country is to be led by the working class.

However, despite this, authorities have been reacting more like it was 1989 and quickly moved to crush their efforts, detaining several dozen of the student activists and working to erase their presence online. However, the students appear to be undaunted, arguing that they are only doing what they were taught was right.

#jasic #北科大黑社会事件 #北京科技大学 #高校打压进步社团 #Beijing #marxism #PKU
【紧急快讯】这是北科现场发来的打人视频这些北科的黑社会推搡，抢夺，谩骂，打人，真是无所不用其极！这难道就是一个211高等院校的风采？ pic.twitter.com/CBHFo4gHyE

— 佳士声援团 (@jasicworkers) September 27, 2018

“What we are doing is entirely legal and reasonable,” said Chen Kexin, a senior at Renmin University in Beijing who took part in the protests. “We are Marxists. We praise socialism. We stand with workers. The authorities can’t target us.”

Ironically, it was President Xi Jinping who, most recently, implemented a policy to teach more Mao and Marx in schools. It would appear, as is characteristic of students in China, they took their lessons seriously.

施英：一周新闻聚焦：深圳佳士工运维权遭当局镇压，数十名工友和学生被抓https://t.co/htj5tDBCCd
持续数月的深圳佳士科技公司工人维权运动，因毛派势力介入，受到海内外人士关注，也令广东当局高度紧张，在互联网及微信群，相关文字及图片均遭屏蔽。 pic.twitter.com/4GTr7A831v

— Cai Chu (@caichu88) August 27, 2018

While this is shocking and unexpected it is not common for people to disappear in China. The nation has a standing reputation for kidnapping its own citizens for many reasons including alleged corruption or any kind of human rights collaboration against the government.

Citizens that have been abducted usually show up months later having been tried in court and prosecuted without representation if they even show up at all.

Some fear that U.S.-Taiwan relations would be downgraded in exchange for a stronger Chinese stance against North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. Katherine Chang, the minister for mainland affairs, tells the Washington Post that Taiwan could become a “bargaining chip” in such a case.

Currently, China views Taiwan as a breakaway province and has not ruled out force as a path to reunification. The U.S. has historically backed the “One China Policy” by refusing to diplomatically recognize Taiwan even though it has maintained an unofficial relationship involving trade.

Taiwan was not mentioned by either Trump or Xi during a joint news conference following their meeting on Thursday.

However, a number of Trump’s advisers have been known to be sympathetic to Taiwan’s concerns and grievances. In early December, Trump broke away from decades of tradition by making a congratulatory phone call to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen following her election victory. But, Trump has since said he will not engage with the Taiwanese president again without checking in with China first.

Furthermore, Trump and Xi have been enjoying an improved relationship, with Trump even saying both shared “great chemistry.” During a news conference in South Korea on Tuesday, Trump said Xi had “been trying very hard to solve the problem” with North Korea. In fact, the U.S. president has enjoyed some success where predecessors have failed on the North Korean issue. China, which is Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner, recently agreed to cut coal exports with the nation and sever ties with its banks.

When Trump was defending his call with Tsai Ing-wen, he had said that the U.S. stance on the One China Policy would depend on whether he can “make a deal” with Beijing on trade and other issues.

Still, the U.S. and Taiwan have enjoyed some good relations including a $1.42 billion weapons deal agreed on earlier this year. This is one of the reasons some diplomats feel a major shift in U.S. relations with Taiwan is unlikely.

Taipei is also looking forward to increase defense spending, establish a bi-lateral trade agreement with the U.S., and end all trade with North Korea.

But whether Taiwan can become a bargaining chip in the North Korean issue strongly depends on Xi’s decisions.

“Many have debated here in Taiwan whether President Trump will trade Taiwan in exchange for China’s position in North Korea,” said Alexander Huang, chairman of Taiwan’s Council on Strategic and Wargaming Studies. “But my hunch is that even if President Trump makes such an offer, President Xi would say no: ‘Taiwan is not in your hands. It’s in mine.’”

“The exile Tibetan community is like a flowing river,” said City University of New York Professor Ming Xia  “Although they have left the mountains of Tibet, they have still remained connected to their homeland like a snow and continue to provide feedback to Tibet. What I am trying to say is the Tibetan tradition and heritage is like a great mountain and through evolution and adaptation to the new environment, the Tibetan community in exile, like a dynamic and creative river, has remained connected with the mountains.”

“If we look at the Middle-Way Approach, if we look at how we are here today with the people of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Xinjiang, we have to ask one fundamental question whether we are going to be a mountain and be separated, or we are going to be like a river, where we are converging and going to create a strong new future, not only for the Chinese, but also for Tibetans and Uyghurs as well as the people of Taiwan and Hong Kong.”

Dhardon Sharling, the Information Secretary (equivalent) of the Department of Information and International Relations of the Central Tibetan Administration, told the audience that the peaceful resolution to the Tibet issue will elevate China’s standing due to Tibet’s values of non-violence and mutual respect.

“Under the guidance and leadership of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Middle Way Approach demonstrates these Tibetan values in application,” he said. “The Tibetan approach to its freedom struggle can be a powerful inspiration and example to others around the globe as an alternative to the cruelty of war, violence, and terrorism if the international community supports those efforts and Tibetans achieve their freedom and the return of His Holiness to Tibet.”

Edward Chin, the convener of Hong Kong 2047 Monitor, said: “It has already been close to sixty years since His Holiness the Dalai Lama has been in exile. The whole world is watching as China is getting more and more powerful. We wish that China would respect human rights and have dialogue with His Holiness and in doing so, China is inviting bigger challenges in the near future.”

However, Gui’s family says they have yet to hear from him. His daughter Angela Gui told reporters, “I still don’t know where my father is … Neither I nor any member of my family nor any of his friends have been contacted. It is still very unclear where he is. I am deeply concerned for his wellbeing.” Based in the UK, she said that the Swedish embassy had received notification that he would be released on October 17.  She added that when Swedish officials arrived at the Chinese prison that morning, authorities had told them he left earlier at midnight and was free to travel as he pleased. They gave no detail of his whereabouts, Angela said.

Gui ran a controversial publishing house Mighty Current. its affiliated Causeway Bay Bookstore sold books controversial to the ruling Chinese Communist Party including titles about the personal lives of the country’s political heads.

Gui disappeared from Thailand in October 2015 before later appearing in China where he made a public confession about a fatal car accident that allegedly occurred in 2003. His daughter said it was forced.

Lam Wing-kee, another jailed publisher, agrees. He says the confession was written by Chinese authorities. He added that Lee Bo, another jailed publisher, was kidnapped from Hong Kong. Lee has not confirmed this, but news about Lee and Gui being allegedly abducted against their wills in an extrajudicial process caught the eye of the international community.

Sweden is seeking additional details about Gui’s release.

[ad_1] President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the nation’s oceans and atmosphere agency is already facing political headwinds. While environmental groups and some senators have expressed skepticism about the nomination of Barry Lee Myers, the CEO of AccuWeather, to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the criticism to date has focused on possible conflicts…

Chinese President Xi Jinping said he has been firmly opposing and preventing Taiwan’s Independence over the past five years in the opening speech of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China delivered on Wednesday. ‘We will never allow anyone, any organization or any political party at any time or in any form, to…

Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a stern warning to Taiwan Wednesday, saying that Beijing has the will and power to thwart any attempts at independence. Addressing a twice-a-decade gathering of the Communist Party in Beijing, Xi warned that China has “the resolve, the confidence, and the ability to defeat separatist attempts for Taiwan independence in any…

Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen will visit three Pacific nations in the next month, the foreign ministry said Friday, as fears grow of China influencing its dwindling list of allies. It comes after Panama cut official ties with Taiwan in June, choosing instead to form diplomatic relations with China — leaving the island with only 20 nations…