Politics
Rare Tibet Trip Shows China Only Wants a Dalai Lama It Can Control
- Fate of Dalai Lama is point of tension for China and the West
- With Dalai Lama now 83, fight looms to name his successor
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For three centuries, a succession of Tibetan spiritual and political leaders known as Dalai Lama ruled from a crimson-and-white castle overlooking the city of Lhasa.
The Potala Palace -- as it’s known -- was the start of a rare tour of Tibet last month. The Chinese foreign ministry and local government hosted international journalists on a trip to the mountainous region, and I was one of them.