Dalai Lama to issue July 2 message, expected to address succession
The Dalai Lama will issue a message on July 2, Tibet's government in exile said on Wednesday, days ahead of his 90th birthday and a hugely anticipated decision as to whether he will have an eventual successor.
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The Nobel Peace Prize-winning monk is expected to celebrate his 90th birthday on July 6 with huge crowds in northern India, his base since leaving his homeland fleeing Chinese troops in 1959.
He has said his landmark birthday will also be a time to encourage people to plan for an eventual future without him and to address whether the Tibetan people want, in time, another Dalai Lama.
While China condemns him as a rebel and separatist, the internationally-recognised Dalai Lama describes himself as a 'simple Buddhist monk'.
Many exiled Tibetans fear China will name a successor to bolster control over a territory it poured troops into in 1950.
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The Dalai Lama stepped down as his people's political head in 2011, passing the baton of secular power to a government chosen democratically by 130,000 Tibetans around the world.
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