Religious authority in China requires threefold validation: from the State Administration for Religious Affairs (SARA), the United Front Work Department (UFWD) and from one of the five official patriotic religious associations, i.e. the Buddhist Association of China (BAC) in the case of Buddhism. This triple accreditation extends to any and all overseas and foreign religious personages (particularly from Taiwan) wishing to carry out work in Mainland China (e.g. preaching, fund raising, charitable projects etc.), ensuring immediate exclusion if not in full compliance with the Chinese system. Clerics thus have no choice other than to actively support the Chinese system and are trained as faithful ambassadors. The support of accredited Taiwanese Buddhist clerics has been a key strategic element of China’s soft power in general, and specifically in Himalayan issues. 

The intellectual leadership of Chinese Buddhism is still on the Taiwan side of the Strait. Therefore, to get the main Taiwanese masters involved with Beijing’s projects required a high degree of intelligence (in all the senses of the term), especially in light of the absence of any specific favoured freedom granted to them in exchange, in the Mainland.

In the early 1980s the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) clear and pragmatic purpose for rejuvenating religion was to stimulate the economy, secure the unity of the nation and support the state’s foreign diplomacy. The prime mover in the rapprochement with Taiwanese Buddhists was Zhao Puchu (1907-2000), one of the founding members of the BAC. His calculation was simple: because Buddhists have always ranked among the most influential Taiwanese business people, they were given incentives to invest heavily in the Motherland, with the help of senior Taiwanese abbots accredited by Beijing. 

Because China had developed a form of Buddhism “under state guidance,” Zhao Puchu incited the clerics under his control to activate their large overseas networks in order to attract business investment, particularly from Taiwan and overseas Chinese in south west Asia. Some preeminent clerics heading powerful Buddhist organisations known as the “Buddhist Circles in Taiwan” have, since the 1980s, participated in the game of Buddhism with Chinese socialist characteristics by supporting Zhao Puchu’s vision and preaching on the Mainland at the BAC’s invitation, all of them having been under the decisive influence of Yin Shun (1906-2005), a pillar of the “Humanistic Buddhism” of Master Taixu (1890-1947) (which we analyse in depth separately).

Among these, the two most prominent were Sheng Yen (1931-2009) and Hsing Yun (b.1927), both close associates of Zhao Puchu. Sheng Yen was a former officer in the Taiwanese Intelligence Service and spiritual heir to Dongchu (1908-1977), a close disciple of Taixu. Sheng Yen fully supported Zhao Puchu’s vision and was able to influence numerous opinion leaders, including many scholars, pioneering the academic dialogue between Chinese and Tibetan Buddhism. In 1992 he created the “Sino-Tibetan Buddhist Cultural Exchange Program” which remains active.

Of all the most influential Han-Taiwanese clerics favourable to the PRC’s policy, Hsing Yun, founder of the powerful Fo Guang Shan (FGS) order with millions of followers worldwide, holds the highest rank. Hsing Yun, who famously declared "There are no Taiwanese in Taiwan and Taiwanese are all Chinese" is openly political and pro-unification. This has earned him unending gratitude, not only by both BAC and SARA, but at the very highest levels of the PRC's leadership. 

Regarding Himalayan affairs, he has been involved both directly and indirectly, but always with discretion. In the militarily strategic area of Ladakh, since the early 1990s he has financed a soft power initiative, a Humanistic Buddhist resort named “Mahabodhi International Meditation Centre”, originally conceived by the former Indian military officer-turned-monk known as Venerable Sanghasena, in close proximity to the disputed area of Aksai Chin. Hsing Yun was guest of honour at the inaugural event in 1992, and his FGS charity organises educational trips for Ladakhis to his Chinese schools, as well as zealously distributing books about CCP-compatible Humanistic Buddhism. Indirectly, his guidance of important Taiwanese figures active in China's Himalayan interests such as  former Taiwanese Ministers of Defence Chen Li-an has been critical. 

Zhao Puchu’s policy of activating controlled clerics proved highly efficient, and many within Taiwan's Buddhist circles are monitored kept under permanent control from mainland religious authorities.

Overseas Chinese control trillions of USD in liquid assets and have considerable amounts of wealth to stimulate economic power in China. With the help both of Buddhist circles and of influential wealthy Chinese overseas, the Chinese leadership created the necessary conditions to promote a visible presence of Buddhism in order to win over the Chinese overseas investors with the pretence of social openness in the PRC, based on the assumption that most of them were Buddhist and spurring them on to invest. In particular, the Taiwanese politician Chen Li-an, was influenced heavily by Sheng Yen and Hsing Yun. In favour of the return of Taiwan to the Motherland, and a committed Buddhist, he offered huge financial support for Tibetan religious figures active in the Himalayan region, listed by Beijing as “patriots”.  

Other very influential Taiwanese clerics accredited by the Mainland authorities include Ching Yao and Hai Tao, 

Ching Yao has been active in establishing numerous charitable ventures in Taiwan, earning him a considerable following, certainly enough to draw the attention of Beijing’s authorities. In 2005 he was accredited in Beijing, and in 2009 travelled to to India to open a channel of liaison between the BAC and Karmapa Ogyen Trinley Dorje. In 2010 Ching Yao returned to Beijing to be formally appointed to China’s structures for managing affairs with Taiwan as well as other overseas relations, earning him the gratitude of PRC State Councillor Chen Jinyu. 

Hai Tao, also accredited in 2005, gathered the wherewithal and resources to operate a 24-hour Buddhist TV channel entitled “Life TV” which transmits throughout south west Asia and the Chinese speaking world. In 2008 during the time of the Beijing Olympics, Hai Tao was called to Mainland duty in to publicly denounce the "disruption of social stability" by the Tibetan uprising in Lhasa and urge the Dalai Lama "to give up his political hopes". His duties overseas have been more extensive, namely in helping create the conditions for the merger of Han and Tibetan Buddhism, working with approved Tibetan clerics, most notably Ogyen Trinley Dorje.