that is why i keep remind people that we must pay attention to what really behind this. dalai and his sponsors wish he could be the pope figure of the Tibetan Buddhisms.
the very fact is that dalai lama is only authoritative to guru school of tibetan Buddhisms among tibetans. beyond that, dalai has very limited influence among other schools of Buddhisms. guru school, though is one of largest schools among the practitioners of tibetan Buddhisms, has no more 1/3 of the number of practitioners (yellow sector) in tibet. so for those anti-china groups, dalai would not be an effective tool against china unless he could command other schools of tibet Buddhisms.
so the pope status of dalai for the tibetan Lamaism become one of top agendas for dalai and his sponsors.