BEIJING
CHINA condemned a statement yesterday by exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama that his successor would be chosen by referendum once he became infirm.
"The Dalai Lama's statement is in blatant violation of religious practice and historical procedure," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The statement defended the traditional Tibetan practice of transferring religious and temporal authority by recognising the next Dalai Lama after the death of his predecessor.
China respected such practices and had clarified them in regulations issued this year spelling out rules for recognising reincarnated religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism Tibetans fear China will control the search for a successor once the Dalai Lama dies, further eroding the Himalayan region's unique Buddhist culture.-AP
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