Reporting from New Delhi — The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, was taken to a hospital here today after complaining of "some discomfort in his arm," aides said, but was released a few hours later after a series of tests.
The 73-year old leader was diagnosed with a pinched nerve, the result of a slipped disc pushing against a nerve, said Tenzen Takhla, an aide. "The doctors said it was nothing serious," Takhla added. Aides said he is expected to resume his schedule, which includes a trip to Germany and Italy later this week followed by an extensive tour of southern India.
This is the latest in a series of health irritants for the septuagenarian. The Dalai Lama was admitted to the hospital last August with abdominal pain and underwent successful gallstone surgery two months later.
The Chinese government, which views the Dalai Lama as a political threat to its control over Tibet, tracks his health developments carefully. But it has adopted a waiting-game strategy, some analysts said, hoping his eventual death will solidify their rule and end decades of periodic unrest in the Tibetan Autonomous Region and surrounding areas.
"Whenever there is such news, China feels very happy," said Vijay Kranti, editor of Tibbat Desh, a newspaper for the Tibetan community in India. "But they are not fighting with a person, they are fighting with a timeless institution. They should be doing something to solve the problem of the Tibetan people within the Dalai Lama's lifetime."
China has poured billions of dollars into Tibet for schools, roads, rail links and other infrastructure and bristles at any suggestion that Tibet is not an inalienable part of China. Beijing's belief that Tibetans should be grateful for such contributions left the leadership all the more shocked by the scope and intensity of anti-Chinese riots that broke out last March across ethnic Tibetan territories.
Chinese troops occupied Tibet in 1950 and the Dalai Lama initially had some areas of cooperation with the new Communist government before fleeing to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against its rule.
The unrest last March suggested that decades of spending have failed to win over the hearts and minds of many ethnic Tibetans. In response, Beijing has launched a major crackdown, travel bans and various "reeducation" campaigns.
And the Chinese leadership has also shown particular anger toward the Dalai Lama, whom it accuses of masterminding the unrest. In recent weeks, China's state-run press has stepped up longstanding accusations that he favors feudal serfdom for Tibetans and is out to spoil their economic prosperity.
There was no immediate reaction from Beijing on the latest health woes of the Dalai Lama.
But Kranti warned that China's strategy of trying to outwait the Dalai Lama may be shortsighted.
The Dalai Lama "has very slowly but decisively created a parallel system that can stand without him," he said, citing the self-declared Tibetan parliament and elected prime minister in exile. "If China thinks he could die and all their problems are over, they have lost their rationality."
mark.magnier@latimes.com
