Beijing: China today hit out at the Dalai Lama for talking about naming a successor before his death, saying he had violated the religious beliefs and "historical" traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.

Reincarnation of living Buddha was a "special heritage way" of Tibetan Buddhism which has "historical and religious conventions", Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular news briefing here.

He said China had adopted a policy of religious freedom and respected the historical conventions and religious rituals of Tibetan Buddhism. "Not long ago with our regulation on reincarnation of living Buddha, we have made our position specifically clear on the issue," he said.

Last week also, China had attacked the Tibetan spiritual leader whom it reviles and calls a separatist bent upon splitting the country, saying he was breaking religious rituals and traditions by saying he was open to the idea of naming his successor before his death so that China does not interfere. In an interview to Japan's Sankei Shimbun recently, the Dalai Lama had said, "if the Tibetan people want to keep the Dalai Lama system, one of the possibilities I have been considering with my aides is to select the next Dalai Lama while I am alive."

He was also quoted as having said that if China selected his successor after his death, the people of Tibet would not support him as there would be no "Tibetan heart in him".

The exiled 72-year-old Tibetan leader, a Nobel laureate, has also been talking of a referendum on the successor issue in recent weeks.

Source : PTI