BEIJING (AFP) - A 14-year-old boy picked by China to become the second-highest spiritual figure in Tibet used his first ever interview to lavish praise on the communist party, state media reported.
The 11th Panchen Lama, chosen by Beijing in defiance of a candidate picked by the exiled Dalai Lama, told reporters from Xinhua news agency he was happy with the social stability and economic development in Tibet.
"We wouldn't have made all these achievements without the good leadership of the Chinese Communist Party, the support from all the Chinese people and the painstaking efforts of the Tibetans," he said.
Speaking to Xinhua during a visit to Tibet, the boy said he himself would continue to promote social and economic development in the Himalayan region.
The boy, widely seen as a Beijing puppet and rarely appearing in public, has received almost all his Buddhist education in the Chinese capital, where he has also undergone political education.
He was previously praised by top Chinese officials as having "improved a lot in political awareness and Buddhist attainment".
Although the teenager is busy studying Buddhist sutras, he also has time to pay attention to what goes on in the world, and what he sees worries him, Xinhua said Sunday.
"It's the common goal of the human race to seek peace, and I hope all the war-torn places in the world will stop fighting soon," he said.
"A war breaks out when too many people are self-centered. There'll be peace in the world only if we're as selfless as our own mothers, and treat all flesh as our own children," he said.
The boy currently stays at the Tashilunpo lamasery, in Tibet's second-largest city Shigatse, which is the traditional residence of all previous Panchen Lamas, Xinhua said.
The news agency said crowds of Buddhists were lingering outside the young lama's residence, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.
The boy was just five when he was chosen by the atheist Chinese regime as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama to become Tibet's Buddhist spiritual leader in 1995.
The Dalai Lama's own choice, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, disappeared from public view in 1995 and is believed to have been under a form of house arrest ever since.
Many devoted Tibetan Buddhists question the identity of the Beijing-backed Panchen Lama.
But with the Chinese government's strict controls over religion, open expression of opposition over the reincarnation selection process have led to the jailing of scores of Buddhist monks, according to rights groups.
But where observers see suppression, the young boy apparently detects only harmony and freedom of religion.
"In Tibetan Buddhism, every temple and place of worship receives very good protection," he was quoted as saying Sunday by the People's Daily, the communist party mouthpiece.
"The policy of allowing freedom of worship is fully respected, and that makes me very happy."
During his ongoing trip to Tibet, the boy lama has presided over various ceremonies in what observers see as a politically inspired exercise aimed at asserting his legitimacy in the long line of Panchen Lamas.
These include presenting a "hada" -- a traditional Tibetan scarf used for worship -- to the shrine of the soul of the 10th Panchen Lama, according to earlier state media reports.