Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: The issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession presents a challenge for India-China ties, Bangladesh is among the first 14 countries to get hit with a tariff notification from the United States, and Russia becomes the first country to formally recognize Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

Welcome to Foreign Policy’s South Asia Brief.

The highlights this week: The issue of the Dalai Lama’s succession presents a challenge for India-China ties, Bangladesh is among the first 14 countries to get hit with a tariff notification from the United States, and Russia becomes the first country to formally recognize Afghanistan’s Taliban government.

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Last Thursday, Kiren Rijiju, India’s minority affairs minister, weighed in on the succession process for the Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibet who has lived in exile in India since 1959 and who turned 90 on Sunday.

“The decision regarding his successor lies solely with the Dalai Lama,” Rijiju said. “Nobody else has the right to decide it except him and the conventions in place.” It’s very unusual for the Indian government to comment on such a sensitive matter. The Tibet issue is often overlooked in discussions of India-China relations, but its potential effects could be profound.

Predictably, Beijing—which regards Tibet as an integral part of China and the Dalai Lama as a separatist—didn’t take this well, calling on New Delhi to “stop using Tibet-related issues to interfere in China’s internal affairs.” The Dalai Lama, who fled Tibet after an unsuccessful revolt against Chinese forces, maintains that he advocates for “meaningful” autonomy in the region, not full independence.

The Indian External Affairs Ministry distanced itself from Rijiju’s comment, asserting that New Delhi takes no position on the issue. But India’s subsequent moves, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi wishing the Dalai Lama a happy birthday and several Indian ministers visiting the spiritual leader at his home in Dharamshala, prompted fresh warnings from China.

Beijing insists that it should choose the next Dalai Lama, and the issue now threatens to jeopardize a modest thaw in India-China relations, which were especially tense following a deadly 2020 border clash.........

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