China's Panchen Lama vows to defend ethnic unity: report"I have shouldered the mission of safeguarding national unity and ethnic solidarity since I was enthroned," Gyaincain Norbu told the official Xinhua news agency late Thursday.
"Now, such a sense of responsibility is becoming even stronger."
Gyaincain Norbu was chosen by China as the 11th Panchen Lama in a 1995 ceremony overseen by the Communist Party, which had rejected a boy selected by the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader.
The 20-year-old, who was elected vice president of the nation's state-run Buddhist Association last month, has also become a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), an advisory body.
The CPPCC, which in theory advises the main rubber-stamp National People's Congress (NPC), opened its annual session on Wednesday. The NPC convened on Friday for a 10-day session.
In the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, the Panchen Lama is second only to the Dalai Lama, who is persona non grata in China as the government accuses him of fomenting unrest in his Himalayan homeland, a claim he denies.
The Dalai Lama's choice for Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, has disappeared from public view and is believed to be under a form of house arrest.
China has been steadily raising the profile of the Panchen Lama as he has grown up. In recent appearances he has routinely praised the Communist Party leadership and China's rule of Tibet.
Anti-China riots erupted in the Tibetan capital Lhasa two years ago. Beijing says 21 people were killed by "rioters" and that security forces killed only one "insurgent".
But the Tibetan government-in-exile, headed by the Dalai Lama, claims that more than 200 people were killed and some 1,000 hurt in the unrest and subsequent crackdown.
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