Tibetan spiritual leader The Dalai Lama on Monday said it was quite possible that his successor could be found in India following his death, a media report said.
"In future, in case you see two Dalai Lamas come, one from here, in a free country, one is chosen by Chinese, then nobody will trust, nobody will respect (the one chosen by China). So that's an additional problem for the Chinese. It's possible, it can happen," the 83-year-old monk said.
During an interview to a news agency, the Dalai Lama warned that Tibetans will not respect his a successor chosen by China would not be respected. The Buddhist spiritual leader spoke Reuters a day after Tibetans in Himachal Pradesh’s Dharamshala observed the anniversary of the Dalai Lama’s escape from Tibet’s capital of Lhasa in 1959.
Reacting to the interview, the Chinese foreign ministry said the reincarnation of Dalai Lama should follow China's laws and regulations and religious rituals.
"I knew you were going to ask this question. Well, here is the answer. Reincarnation is a unique way of Tibetan Buddhism. It has fixed rituals and systems. The Chinese government has a policy of freedom of religious beliefs. We have the regulation of religious affairs and regulations on the reincarnation of Tibetan Buddhism. We respect and protect such ways of Tibetan Buddhism," Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said.
"The reincarnation system has been there for hundreds of years. The 14th Dalai also was recognised in the religious rituals and was approved by the Central government. So the reincarnation of Dalai Lama should be following the national laws and regulations and the religious rituals," he added.
India is also home to some 100,000 Tibetans, many of who fled Tibet along with the Dalai Lama.