Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he is taking to seek to obtain date-verifiable material of Tibet's missing Panchen Lama from the Chinese authorities.

​We raised the case of the Panchen Lama, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, at the UK-China Human Rights Dialogue which took place in Beijing on 27 June 2017. We called on the Chinese authorities to release evidence to reassure the international community of his current status and wellbeing.

We urge China to ensure that the restrictions on the Panchen Lama's freedom of movement and communication are lifted, so that he may select the career, education or religious life of his choosing. We continue to support calls by the UN Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Religion or Belief for the Chinese authorities to facilitate a meeting between the Panchen Lama and independent international observers.