Taipei  - The Dalai Lama's envoy to Taiwan Thursday blasted China's claim that the Dalai Lama's reincarnation must be endorsed by Beijing, saying it should be endorsed by the Tibetan people.

Dawa Tsering, head of the Dalai Lama's representative office in Taipei, made the response after Qiangba Puncog, chairman of the Tibetan regional government, said the Beijing government must endorse the Dalai Lama's reincarnation and would not recognize any reincarnation chosen by the Tibetan government-in-exile or pro-Dalai Lama monasteries.

Qiangba Puncog made the statement to the Xinhua news agency, marking the first time Chinese authorities have officially commented on the selection of the reincarnation of the 14th Dalai Lama.

In exile in India since 1959, the Dalai Lama, 73, says he is in excellent health, although it has been rumoured that China has been preparing to find the Dalai Lama's reincarnation inside China as soon as the Dalai Lama has died, in order to maintain its grip on Tibet.

Qiangba Puncog said that the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama must follow historical conventions and required religious rituals and, more importantly among the traditions, approval from the central government.

But Dawa dismissed Qiangba Puncog's statement as ridiculous.

"When he said 'historical conventions,' he distorted history, because in Tibetan history, the Dalai Lama's reincarnation was approved by Tibetan people themselves, without political influence from the outside," he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

Dawa also dismissed as a "joke" Qianbgba Puncog's remark that, if the Tibetan government-in-exile selects Dalai Lama's reincarnation, Beijing will not only reject it but also mobilize the Tibetan people to oppose it.

"Let's take it as a joke, because I doubt if Beijing has the power to mobilize the Tibetan people to reject Dalai Lama's reincarnation selected by the Tibetan government-ini-exile. Even if they use force, I doubt if they can succeed," he said.

Dawa said the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamsala, northern India, would probably not respond to Qiangba Puncog's statement as Qiangba Puncog, a China-appointed Tibetan official, "is only a puppet and his status is not very high."

The Dalai Lama is the supreme spiritual leader in Tibetan Buddhism, and is held in high esteem by both Tibetan exiles and Tibetans inside Tibet.

He has said that after his death, it is up to Tibetan people to decide if there should be a reincarnation.

Selection of the Dalai Lama is a complicated ritual which includes finding boys born around the time of the Dalai Lama's death, showing them the deceased Dalai Lam's personal belongings and checking their reaction, relying on instructions or drawings left by the Dalai Lama.

In 1995, China and the Tibetan government-in-exile clashed when both the Dalai Lama and Beijing named a reincarnation of the 10th Panchan Lama, the second-highest leader in Tibetan Buddhism.

China has put the Dalai Lama-selected reincarnation of the Panchan Lama under house arrest, but many Tibetans refuse to accept the Beijing-named reincarnation of the Panchan Lama, calling him the fake Panchan Lama. (dpa)