*As Dalai Lama’s Birthday Nears, China Steps Up Narrative Building* Last week, for the first time in ten years, China’s President Xi Jinping received the Panchen Lama Gyaltsen Norbu in Beijing. Norbu is the monk the Chinese Communist Party handpicked to be the Panchen Lama, considered second only to the Dalai Lama. This was after disappearing the boy chosen by the Dalai Lama to be the Panchen Lama. He remains disappeared until today. Why the ten year gap in meeting Norbu and why now? Anybody looking for insight from China’s state-controlled media may have been disappointed. The official press release noted that Xi “directed” the Panchen Lama to “resolutely safeguard the unity of the motherland and the unity of the nation … advance the Sinicization of the religion … ” and facilitate the “modernisation of Tibet”. https://stratnewsglobal.com/china/as-dalai-lamas-birthday-nears-china-steps-up-narrative-building/