Why does China care who the next Dalai Lama is?
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2025
⏱️ 22 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In Tibetan Buddhist tradition, the Dalai Lama is reincarnated after they die. Monks search, select, and school a successor – usually a child. The current Dalai Lama was recognised at the age of two. He and an estimated 150,000 Tibetans now live in exile in India, and other countries, after China annexed Tibet decades ago.
And that makes who the next Dalai Lama is, a concern of China's.
Joining Matt Barbett is Professor Robert Barnett, who founded the Modern Tibetan Studies Program at Columbia University and is now at University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). He has also met the Dalai Lama several times.
Producers: Soila Apparicio and Emma Rae Woodhouse
Editor: Wendy Parker
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Uber drivers. Have you seen your pay go down while your fees to Uber go up? |
| 0:05.0 | All because of an algorithm that reduces your take-home pay, making you work more for less. |
| 0:10.0 | We believe Uber's dynamic pay and upfront pricing is unfair. |
| 0:14.0 | That's why Worker Info Exchange has launched the dynamic pay claim to seek compensation for drivers who have lost income. If you've driven for Uber |
| 0:22.7 | at any time since 2020, it's time to stand together. Find out more at dynamic pay.org. |
| 0:30.1 | Add water to your will. And know that from that single drop, life will grow. Communities will flourish. A better world will be left. |
| 0:43.3 | By leaving a gift in your will to Water Aid, you'll help bring essential clean water to people who need it, |
| 0:49.3 | to change their own lives for generations to come. Add WaterAid to your will. |
| 0:55.7 | Search WaterAid legacy to find out how. |
| 1:00.0 | How do you pass on a 600-year-old role as the Dalai Lama? |
| 1:04.5 | And why does the Chinese Communist Party want to decide who takes that on? |
| 1:08.7 | I'm Matt Barbette with the Sky News Daily in just a moment. |
| 1:12.8 | Uber drivers, have you seen your pay go down while your fees to Uber go up? |
| 1:17.2 | All because of an algorithm that reduces your take-home pay, making you work more for less. |
| 1:22.6 | We believe Uber's dynamic pay and upfront pricing is unfair. That's why Worker Info Exchange has launched the dynamic pay claim to seek compensation for drivers who have lost income. |
| 1:33.9 | If you've driven for Uber at any time since 2020, it's time to stand together. |
| 1:39.2 | Find out more at dynamicpay.org. |
| 1:42.7 | Stop paying to invest. |
| 1:45.3 | With free trade, you can invest without the legacy fees, |
| 1:48.8 | with a free ICER, a free pension, |
| 1:51.1 | and commission-free investing in funds, stocks, |
| 1:54.1 | ETFs, bonds, and more. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Sky News, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Sky News and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.