China labels the Dalai Lama a “separatist” and asserts that it will select his successor. However, the 89-year-old has stated that any successor chosen by China would not be honoured.

The Dalai Lama's successor will be born outside China, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says in a new book, raising the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of the Himalayan region he fled more than six decades ago.

In his new book, the 14th Dalai Lama claims that his successor would be born in “a free world” which was outside China.