Can The Chinese Government Force The Dalai Lama To Reincarnate?

The Dalai Lama and the Chinese government are in a remarkable standoff. The Dalai Lama recently suggested that he might not reincarnate and could be the end of his spiritual line.

Chinese officials, though, are insisting that the Dalai Lama does not have that choice, and that he must reincarnate. They want to control who his successor will be, as a means of reinforcing their control over the Tibetan region.

Gray Tuttle, a professor of modern Tibetan studies at the Weatherhead East Asian Institute at Columbia University, discusses this with Here & Now's Robin Young.