China seeks to "tighten grip" on religion

Of course it does.  Religious faith -- and religious authority -- are inconvenient and threatening to statist and anti-human dictatorships.  This bit probably isn't intended by the PRC to be funny:

China has taken an assertive tone with Tibetan Buddhism, too, emphasizing that Beijing holds authority over the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. In November, Zhu Weiqun, a top ethnic and religious-affairs leader, wrote that having political control over reincarnation constitutes “an important manifestation of the Chinese central government’s sovereignty over Tibet.”