-By Penelope Macrae in Dehli, The Guardian

The Dalai Lama has declared in a direct challenge to China that the centuries-old spiritual institution bearing his name will continue after his death and that only his inner circle, not Beijing, will have the authority to identify his successor.

In a video message played on Wednesday during prayer celebrations ahead of his 90th birthday this weekend, the 14th Dalai Lama said the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which manages his affairs, would oversee the search for his reincarnation.

“No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” he said in Dharamshala, the northern Indian hill town that serves as the seat of the Tibetan government in exile. “In accordance with past tradition, the search for my reincarnation and the naming of a 15th Dalai Lama will be carried out.”

The Dalai Lama had previously hinted he might be the last in the line, but he said consultations with senior spiritual leaders and appeals from the Tibetan public, including in Chinese-ruled Tibet, had persuaded him otherwise.

“In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he told the gathering of senior Buddhist monks. He said clear written instructions would be left behind, but did not elaborate on their contents.

China annexed Tibet in 1951 and has retained tight control over the region ever since. It has said the choice of the next Dalai Lama lies only with Beijing, and has enshrined state assent for all senior Tibetan religious leaders in law. It insists the golden urn – a Qing dynasty ritual in which names are drawn by lot from a ceremonial vessel – is the only legitimate method for recognising reincarnated lamas. The Communist party must approve the final selection.

Beijing has already used this approach to assert control. After the death of the 10th Panchen Lama, Tibet’s second-highest spiritual authority, in 1995, the Dalai Lama recognised a six-year-old boy as his reincarnation. The boy and his family vanished into Chinese custody days later and have not been seen since. China installed its own candidate, widely rejected by Tibetans. According to Chinese state media, the Beijing-backed Panchen Lama met President Xi Jinping just last month and pledged loyalty to the Communist party.

The Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born in a free country, raising the possibility that the next reincarnation could emerge from among the Tibetan diaspora, which numbers about 140,000 globally, half of them in India. He has also said the next Dalai Lama might be an adult and not necessarily male.

“Today’s message is that the Dalai Lama institution will continue,” Lobsang Tenzin, the trust’s second-most senior leader and known by his religious title Samdhong Rinpoche, told a news conference in Dharamshala. “There will be a 15th Dalai Lama. There will be a 16th.” He said the Dalai Lama would issue detailed instructions on how the search for the next reincarnation should proceed. Click here to read more.