Dalai Lama's Grammy win slammed as 'anti-China' by Chinese government.

Extract from ABC News

• Topic:Music Industry

7 hours ago

The Dalai Lama has lived in exile from his homeland in Tibet since 1959. (AP: Ashwini Bhatia)

In short:

Beijing has slammed the Grammy Awards as "a tool for anti-China political manipulation" after the Dalai Lama won an award.

The 90-year-old won the audiobook category for his book Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

He said he received the award with "gratitude and humility".

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Beijing has criticised the Dalai Lama's first Grammy win, describing the music industry award for an audiobook, narration and storytelling as "a tool for anti-China political manipulation".

The Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader, who lives in exile in India, took the award on Sunday for his book, Meditations: The Reflections of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

He said in a statement on his website that he saw the award "as a recognition of our shared universal responsibility".

"I receive this recognition with gratitude and humility," he added.

China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Lin Jian, said: "It is well known that the 14th Dalai Lama is not merely a religious figure but a political exile engaged in anti-China separatist activities under the guise of religion."

"We firmly oppose the relevant party using the award as a tool for anti-China political manipulation,"

he added.

The Dalai Lama, who is seen by many as the face of Tibet's struggle for autonomy, has lived in exile since 1959, when Chinese troops crushed an uprising in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.

The past and the future of the Dalai Lama

In the lead up to his 90th birthday, Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama made a series of statements concerning the future of the institution that have reignited the war of words with the Chinese Communist Party.

China, which governs Tibet as an autonomous region, has been accused of trying to stamp out the Tibetan language, culture and identity.

Beijing and the Dalai Lama also spar over the spiritual leader's eventual successor. Tibetan Buddhists believe the Dalai Lamas are reincarnations of a spiritual leader first born in 1391.

Beijing maintains the next Dalai Lama will be born in Tibet and recognised by the ruling Communist Party, whereas the Dalai Lama has said his successor will be from a free country and that China has no role in the process.

AP