Chinese President Hu Jintao met with a teenage boy picked by Beijing to become the second-highest spiritual figure in Tibet, telling him to be patriotic on the eve of his 15th birthday.
Hu was shown on state television urging the 11th Panchen Lama, chosen by Beijing in defiance of a candidate chosen by the exiled Dalai Lama, to be "a living Buddha full of love for the country and his religion."
"I hope you will follow the example of His Holiness to be another model of loving the country and the religion," Hu said, referring to the boy's predecessor, the 10th Panchen Lama, who was also handpicked by Beijing.
Hu said he hoped the young monk will "make new contributions to adapt Tibetan Buddhism to socialist society."
The teenager, who is rarely seen in public, was shown on state-run CCTV's evening news listening obediently to Hu with his hands clasped and giving frequent small nods. He clapped after Hu spoke.
He was dressed in the traditional yellow and dark orange robes worn by Tibetan Buddhist monks, as he sat next to Hu in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
The teenager, who was born on February 13, 1990, was shown speaking to Hu but his words were not broadcast and were instead paraphrased by the TV anchor.
He thanked the Communist Party and the State Council (cabinet) for their care, CCTV said.
"I will definitely not be unworthy of the care from the party and State Council and will not be unworthy of the instructions from President Hu," he was quoted by CCTV as saying.
The Panchen Lama, widely seen as a Beijing puppet, also promised to "firmly safeguard national integrity and ethnic unity" and "be a good living Buddha who loves the nation and religion and protects the nation and benefits the people," CCTV said.
The boy was just five when he was chosen by the atheist Chinese regime in 1995 as the reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama.
He has received almost all his Buddhist education in the Chinese capital, where he has also undergone political education. The official Xinhua news agency said Thursday he was receiving middle-school lessons from his personal tutors.
The Dalai Lama's own choice, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, disappeared from public view in 1995 and is believed to have been under a form of house arrest ever since.
Many devoted Tibetan Buddhists question the identity of the Beijing-backed Panchen Lama.
But with the Chinese government's strict controls over religion, open expression of opposition over the reincarnation selection process have led to the jailing of scores of Buddhist monks, according to rights groups.
China occupied Tibet in 1950. The Dalai Lama fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of China's designation of Tibet as an "autonomous region," although the Himalayan region is by no means free to govern its own affairs and remains tightly controlled by Beijing.
Hu Thursday said the government will "further strengthen its assistance and support" for development of the region.
Beijing sees economic development as one way to mitigate dissent and the independence aspirations of some Tibetans but critics said development programs are mostly benefitting majority Han Chinese.