The Dalai Lama is to step down as political leader of the Tibetan government-in-exile, potentially confounding the Chinese government’s efforts to control the succession process after his death.
In an address to his followers on Thursday, the 52nd anniversary of a failed rebellion against Chinese rule that led to his flight from Tibet, the Dalai Lama said the time had come for a transition to a new leadership.
“I have repeatedly stressed that Tibetans need a leader, elected freely by the Tibetan people, to whom I can devolve power,” he said from Dharamsala, the Indian hill station that serves as a capital for exiled Tibetans. “We have reached the time to put this into effect.”