Why does China hate the Dalai Lama?

The battle for Buddha is heating up between India and China as Beijing moves into South Asia and New Delhi "looks East" for influence in the Pacific.  But why is that China gets so angry when it comes to the Dalai Lama these days?

According to a report in the Hindustan Times, there's a method to Beijing's madness in trying to force Indian officials to denounce the Tibetan leader this week.  (Recap: China scrapped talks over the disputed borders of Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh because India refused to bar the DL from a world Buddhism conference in New Delhi Nov. 27-30, and now they're hissin' and spittin' over a move by the governor of West Bengal to attend a DL speech in Kolkata Thursday).

Here's HT's theories:

Why has China become so touchy? Given its opaque politics, only theories exist.

* One, Beijing is on edge over the recent Tibetan self-immolations against Chinese repression. That the centre of these protests is Sichuan – outside Tibet's official borders and in China's heartland – has rattled the system even more.

* Two, His Holiness's claim in September that his next reincarnation need not wait for his death and could be an adult has put paid to hopes that his demise would neuter the Tibetan movement.

* Three, a new Chinese leadership is taking over and jockeying between aspirants has allowed hardliners to come to the fore and moderate voices, like China's foreign ministry, to be sidelined.

* Lastly, a rising China is simply showing "its true colours". The West is in decline and China sees no challengers on the horizon – India's GDP is one-fourth China's and is falling further behind. Succession is irrelevant: Beijing will be assertive because it wants to be and aggressive because it can be.

See my story on the GlobalPost main page later today for my spin on the matter.