Dalai Lama plan illegal: Beijing

Two days after the Dalai Lama said that Beijing would have no role in deciding his successor,an angry China declared that any successor chosen by the Dalai Lama would be illegal.

There is a complete set of religious rituals and historical conventions in reincarnation of the Dalai Lama and a Dalai Lama identifying his own successor has never been the practice, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said. The title of Dalai Lama is conferred by the (Chinese) central government and is illegal otherwise.

The Dalai Lama had said that if he is to be reincarnated,he would leave clear written instructions about the process.