Beijing insists it can find next Dalai Lama

There will be no upheaval in Tibet if the Dalai Lama dies because Beijing says it is well prepared to choose a boy to succeed the spiritual leader, according to a government adviser on Tibetan culture.

According to a painter of the late 10th Panchen Lama, Nimazeren, Beijing would have no problem following Tibetan Buddhist precedent to choose his reincarnation, if the 70-year-old Dalai Lama, died in exile.

'We have not got any problem in the choice of his reincarnation in accordance to our Buddhist rituals and traditions if the Dalai Lama dies in exile,' Nimazeren told the South China Morning Post recently, on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

'The choice has been arranged by the traditional rules of Tibetan Buddhism since the Qing dynasty, which also required the approval of the central government in Beijing,' according to Nimazeren, a CPPCC member.

He said the reincarnation of a new Dalai Lama also required recognition by the Panchen Lama.

The Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama are the twin pillars of the Gelugpa, or yellow hat, sect of Buddhism. The Dalai Lama rules as a king, but the Panchen Lama has no formal political role.

Gedhun Choekyi Nyima was nominated as the reincarnation of the Panchen Lama - the second-most important figure in Tibetan religion, culture and politics after the Dalai Lama himself.