Thank you, Chair.
In terms of clarifying my own position with respect to the Sino-Tibetan dialogue, I was in favour of it when it came before the Canada-China committee and I'm in favour of it at all times. It is something that is critical in terms of resuming, so let me be clear about that.
First of all, thu-chi che, katrin che.
Thank you for being here, Sikyong. Thank you, Rinpoche. It is very critical what you are talking about today, and we are very pleased to have you here at the committee providing this testimony.
On behalf of the thousands of Tibetan Canadians I represent, and on behalf of the thousands of Tibetan Canadians I've interacted with in this country, I want to talk to you first about the Panchen Lama. I think it should be clear to everyone that the Panchen Lama is not the heir to the throne of the Dalai Lama, but they work in conjunction. One recognizes the other's incarnation.
When we say that the Chinese have taken control of the Panchen Lama and forced him to disappear and named a replacement, they're trying to take control of the succession. In the event of the passing of His Holiness, they would attempt to control the reincarnation. That, to me, strikes at the core of what we are talking about when we talk about religious freedom. That is clearly what is at issue here.
You know that the Canadian government has been long-standing in its position about the whereabouts of the Panchen Lama, going back to 1995. In 1998, a thousand birthday cards were delivered by Canadian children to the Panchen Lama on what would have been approximately his ninth birthday. Even as recently as 2016-17, we were making formal representations in this regard. We will continue to do that as parliamentarians. I will continue to do that on behalf of my constituents, and I think everyone here in this committee will continue to speak to that issue.
Can you tell me, with respect to the succession issue, what you foresee as the dangers with respect to not identifying and locating the Panchen Lama and ascertaining his whereabouts? If that is not done immediately, what is the danger that this presents?
If you could respond in about 60 seconds, please, I have a few other questions.