Beijing, China - The teenage boy picked by Beijing to become the second-highest spiritual figure in Tibet has lashed out at countries spending vast sums of money on weapons in rare comments.
The 11th Panchen Lama, who was chosen by Beijing in defiance of a candidate chosen by the exiled Dalai Lama, said the practice was a waste and could be better used showing compassion.
"In my own opinion, many countries spend much money to buy arms and weapons of mass destruction," said the 15-year-old boy in an interview that the South China Morning Post said was his first with a foreigner.
"By doing so, these countries will gain power for their country, but it will bring harm to the world. This expense is very large and tremendous.
"If these countries used this money to help the less-developed countries and nationalities, if this money went to disabled people and students, and to buy medical facilities and promote medical research then there would be peace.
"But by spending the money on arms, it is a waste, like throwing money into a vast sea."
His comments came on the day that China's parliament rubber-stamped a 12 percent increase in military spending for 2005, increasing expenditures to 244.65 billion yuan (29.5 billion dollars).
While he made no reference to China's budget and its sabre rattling towards Taiwan, nor to the US-led war in Iraq which China opposed, he called for tolerance around the world.
"I wish the world may enjoy peace and that people love and respect each other. May there be tolerance among different religions and beliefs," he said in American-accented English.
"Secondly, I wish Tibetan people here and living abroad love their country and home town, and put their efforts into economic development to raise living standards and development in their homeland."
The teenager, who is rarely seen in public, is widely seen as a Beijing puppet. He 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 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.