In a sharp message to China to back off from interfering in the succession process of the next Dalai Lama, the Japanese Buddhist Conference for World Federation has placed on record its position that the Tibetan people must decide the successor of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama on the basis of Tibetan culture and history, and not China.

The Japan Buddhist Conference for World Federation is an umbrella organisation that brings together a number of sects of Japanese Buddhism.