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.

The 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled to India in 1959 after a failed uprising against Mao Zedong's Communist regime. China says it will choose his successor, but the Dalai Lama says any successor appointed by China won't be respected. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989 for keeping alive the Tibetan cause.

China on Monday sought to refute the Dalai Lama’s allegations that Beijing might make efforts to erase the Tibetan civilisation, saying that Tibet enjoys prosperity and development. “The 14th Dalai Lama is not a pure religious figure,

The Tibetan Buddhist leader said the choice of a successor should be made according to traditional practices and that lamas and monks would conduct the search, setting up a clash with Beijing’s communist rulers.

The Buddhist leader, 89, has lived in exile in India since the Chinese army’s deadly crackdown on Tibetans in 1959.