As the Dalai Lama turns 90, the Tibetan spiritual leader finds himself in a tussle with China over who will succeed him. The clash is a long time in the making with the Dalai Lama insisting the Chinese government will have absolutely no say in the selection.

Even as the Dalai Lama has called for a ‘middle way’ approach, the Communist Party of China (CPC) cannot come to terms with the idea of co-existing with Tibetans as its totalitarian ethno-nationalist state has no room for a non-Han group or leader — and certainly not for someone like the Dalai Lama whom his followers revere like a god.