WASHINGTON – A government advisory panel on religious freedom denounced today new regulations issued by China that appear aimed at undermining the Dalai Lama, exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists.

The regulations go into effect on tomorrow.

Along with the Buddhist section, the rules also reassert China’s right to name Roman Catholic bishops. The Vatican says no agency outside the church can do that.

In a statement, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said Friday that the Buddhist section is “clearly designed to undermine the influence of the Dalai Lama” by requiring government approval of “living Buddhas” in violation of international legal guarantees of religious freedom.

According to the commission, the regulations order reincarnate Tibetan lamas, paramount of whom is the Dalai Lama, “respect and protect the principles of unification of the state.” The edict denies the right of any foreign organization or individual to interfere with the state’s process of enthroning living Buddhas.

China has held a centuries-old claim on Tibet, a Himalayan region west of the main Chinese territory, and enforced with a military invasion in 1951. The Dalai Lama resisted but finally fled in 1959 to continue his campaign from exile in Dharamsala, India, where he remains.

The Dalai Lama, holder of the Nobel Peace Prize and a Congressional Gold Medal, just turned 72. A special envoy has been representing him in on-and-off negotiations on an autonomy arrangement for the region.

Tibetan monks will select the reincarnated Dalai Lama after his death.

In 1995, the Dalai Lama chose 6-year-old Gendun Choekyi Nyima as the 11th Panchen Lama, the most exalted figure of Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. The boy and his family disappeared soon after and have not been heard from since.

China’s communist-led government later named Gyaltsen Norbu as the 11th Panchen Lama and said Nyima and his family were being kept in a secret location for their protection.

Such suppression of religious freedom in Tibet “again demonstrates Beijing’s violation of international covenants recognizing the basic right of religious communities to choose their religious leaders and teachers,” the U.S. commission statement said.

On the Catholic question, the statement said China’s insistence that it choose bishops “is a violation of China’s international obligations and further sets back any rapprochement between the ‘unregistered’ and ‘official’ Catholic churches in China.”

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On the Net:

Commission on religious freedom: http://www.uscirf.gov

Dalai Lama biography: http://www.tibet.com/DL/biography.html