In other news, China has said that exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, cannot choose who will succeed him when he dies, and that Beijing will make the decision. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said that Dalai Lamas have never decided on their own successors.

 

I would like to point out the title of the Dalai Lama is conferred by the central government and is otherwise illegal. The 14th Dalai Lama was approved by the then republican government.

 

There has never been a practice of the Dalai Lama identifying his own successor, he added.

 

China has said that religious law requires that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama be born in a Tibetan area under Chinese control.