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China will host a global Buddhist conference in October that experts and rights activists outside the country say is aimed at boosting its soft power in Asia and build on its narrative that it has greater influence over Buddhist-majority nations than India, the birthplace of Buddhism.
Monks, experts, scholars and representatives from about 70 countries are expected to attend the sixth World Buddhist Forum in mid-October in the eastern city of Ningbo, Chinese state media reported.
However, the Dalai Lama, perhaps the most prominent Buddhist leader in the world, is not invited. Regarded by Beijing as separatist, the Tibetan spiritual leader hasn’t been invited to any of the past forums since the first one organized by China in 2006.
The goal of the conference, according to the state-run China Daily, is to "promote world peace, improve the well-being of all individuals, and gather wisdom and strength for building a community with a shared future for humanity."
But in fact, China has little interest in promoting or protecting Buddhism, and instead is trying to use the conference to achieve its political goals, Sana Hashmi, a postdoctoral fellow at the policy think tank Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, told Radio Free Asia.
“China has been trying to forge religious diplomacy with countries that have Buddhism as their main religion,” she said.
“It also wants to show that instead of India, which is the birthplace of Buddhism, China has more influence when it comes to Buddhism.”
By organizing the forum, China is misleading the international community by creating the illusion that the state supports Buddhism, though there is no genuine protection or support for Buddhists within the country, said Shartse Khensur Rinpoche Jangchup Choeden, secretary general of the International Buddhist Confederation.
‘Sinicizing’ Tibetan Buddhism
The conference comes at a time when Beijing is ramping up efforts to “Sinicize” Tibetan Buddhism to bring its religious doctrines into line with Chinese Communist Party, or CCP, ideology and emphasize loyalty to the party and the state.
Although China’s constitution states that its citizens “enjoy freedom of religious belief,” in practice this is not the case. Officials routinely clamp down on religious expression by Tibetan Buddhists, Uyghur Muslims and Christians across the country.
The government officially recognizes Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism, but requires clergy members to pledge allegiance to the CCP and socialism.
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Far from showing that China is preserving Tibetan Buddhism or the Buddhist religion in general, the conference will showcase Beijing’s efforts to assimilate Tibetans and other minority groups and erase their distinctive features and cultures, activists and experts say.
Yan Jue, president of the Buddhist Association of China that's organizing the conference, seemed to acknowledge as much. He said the sixth forum will “adhere to the direction of Sinicization of Buddhism” in China and “fully publicize and display the status of religious freedom in China.”
‘Key instrument’
The Buddhist Association of China is the official government body supervising Buddhist practice in China, which in turn is overseen by the United Front Work Department of the CCP's Central Committee.
The International Campaign for Tibet, a rights group, calls the association a “key instrument” in Beijing’s strategy to assimilate and transform Tibetan Buddhism, especially when it comes to searching for and recognizing reincarnated lamas.
Beijing is using the association to “break down Tibetan Buddhism’s unique characteristics and to change it into a tool of the Chinese state,” the group says.
“Since 2020, under [President] Xi Jinping's leadership, the CCP has intensified efforts to Sinicize Tibetan Buddhism, assigning this task to the Buddhist Association of China, which organizes conferences and events that serve as tools of soft power manipulation,” said Tenzin Dorjee, a Tibetan-American and Buddhist former commissioner at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.
Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue said the conference must shed light on severe restrictions imposed on Buddhist practices, particularly in Tibet and Mongolia, and oppose the CCP’s “manipulation of Buddhism and religion for political gain.”
Edited by Tenzin Pema for RFA Tibetan and by Roseanne Gerin and Malcolm Foster.