China Launched ‘Smear Campaign’ Against Dalai Lama, Painted the Tibetan Leader as ‘Pedophile’: Report

China recently launched a smear campaign on social media against Dalai Lama to vilify the Tibetan spiritual leader and paint him as a pedophile, a report has claimed.

The smear campaign started after a controversial video surfaced in April where Dalai Lama was seen kissing a child on the lips and subsequently requesting the child to “suck his tongue”.

In a video that went viral on social media platforms, the Dalai Lama could be seen kissing the lips of a boy who approached to hug him. During the incident, the Buddhist monk extended his tongue and requested the boy to “suck it”. The Dalai Lama can be heard asking, “Can you suck my tongue?” in the viral footage.

When the video went into the hands of Chinese propaganda officers, an edited version was spread online to vilify the Buddhist leader. An edited video was made out of the incident to make it look like the Dalai Lama wanted to kiss the 8-year-old boy.

China has, in past few years, put new resources into manipulating social media overseas using global platforms unlike the Chinese ones.

Using a Twitter account made few months back, the edited clip was sent out with the slur “Pedo-Dalai Lama.” The video went viral through linked bot accounts and networks of trusted pro-regime people globally.

The video received millions of hits withing days and lots of memes kept piling on. After the incident, there was a huge outrage and global condemnation against Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama issued an official apology saying he regrets the incident. “His Holiness often teases people he meets in an innocent and playful way, even in public and before cameras. He regrets the incident,” the official statement read. It further said that Dalai Lama wishes to apologise to the boy and his family, as well as his many friends across the world.

The report said that the Chinese trick succeeded among millions in the United States, Europe and across the world, due to their prior prejudice and self-righteous tendency and widespread ignorance about Tibet.

It further claimed that it is customary in Tibet to feed one’s children by mouth, particularly in the Dalai Lama’s old home district Amdo.

“When they have run out of treats or sweets to give their grandchild: They’ll stick out their tongue, and say to the child, “You may eat my tongue, for I have nothing else left.” That the Dalai Lama said “suck” instead of “eat” was perhaps because he was thinking of candy, not food – the original Tibetan wording is che le sa, literally “eat my tongue,”” the report said.

The Tibetan exile activist Lhadon Tethong claims that the goal was also to distract the world from the new dramatic oppression inside Chinese-occupied Tibet.

The Beijing propaganda come even as UN human rights experts warned that Chinese authorities have been detaining large numbers of children and adults in Tibet, to erase their culture and turn them into Chinese-speaking laborers along with the parallel genocide against the Uyghurs Muslims.

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile in India since 1959, when he was forced to flee his homeland during Mao’s reign in Beijing.

The Chinese authorities have made it a criminal offense even to have a photo of him. And ever since 1959, Chinese officials have been vilifying him in every medium possible.

The report also said that the smear campaign had an element of revenge as a Mongol boy born in the United States was named as the 10th Khalkha Jetsun Dhampa Rinpoche, the third highest rank in Tibetan Buddhism, by the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala in March this year.

The move shows the global vitality of Tibetan Buddhism and strengthens the Tibetan community’s by naming a successor to the Dalai Lama, which China has struggled to stamp out.