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Panchen Lama not old enough to be in NPC

BEIJING, March 4 (UPI) -- Tibet's 11th Panchen Lama, anointed by China's regime, won't be taking his place as deputy in the country's parliament this year because of his age.

Gyaincain Norbu, picked by the Communists in 1995 as the second highest Buddhist spiritual head in Tibet after the Dalai Lama, apparently didn't turn 18 at the time elections were held to the National People's Congress. The NPC's session opens Wednesday.

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A spokesman for the NPC said China's regulations stipulate that NPC deputies must be older than 18, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The spokesman was quoted as saying the Panchen Lama wasn't 18 at the time of the NPC election.

Xinhua reported the youth was born in 1989 and made the Panchen Lama on Dec. 8, 1995.

China's Communist Party largely determines membership in the NPC, whose deputies hold Cabinet ministerial rank.

Gyaincain Norbu was the choice of the Communist Party for Panchen Lama against another chosen by the Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism since 1950.

The Dalai Lama has been living in exile in India since the failed 1959 uprising in Tibet against the Communist regime.

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