India backs Dalai Lama's position on successor, contradicting China

The Dalai Lama, who fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, said on Wednesday that upon his death he would be reincarnated as the next spiritual leader and that only the Gaden Phodrang Trust would be able to identify his successor. He previously said the person will be born outside China.

Beijing says it has the right to approve the Dalai Lama's successor as a legacy from imperial times.

Kiren Rijiju, India's minister of parliamentary and minority affairs, made a rare statement on the matter on Thursday, ahead of visiting the Dalai Lama's base in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala for the religious leader's 90th birthday on Sunday.

"No one has the right to interfere or decide who the successor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be," Indian media quoted Rijiju as telling reporters.

"Only he or his institution has the authority to make that decision. His followers believe that deeply. It’s important for disciples across the world that he decides his succession."

India's foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment on the Dalai Lama's succession plan.

Rijiju, a practising Buddhist, will be joined by other Indian officials at the birthday celebrations.

India is estimated to be home to tens of thousands of Tibetan Buddhists who are free to study and work there. Many Indians revere the Dalai Lama, and international relations experts say his presence in India gives New Delhi a measure of leverage with China.