A Chinese government official on Monday said the Dalai Lama is "making a fool" of Tibetan Buddhism by saying he may not reincarnate, or be reborn as something inappropriate, reported Reuters. Zhu Weiqun, chairman of the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the top advisory body to China's Parliament, wrote in the state-run Global Times, "He's been proclaiming he'll reincarnate as a foreigner, as a bee, as a 'mischievous blond girl', or even proposing a living reincarnation or an end to reincarnation. All of this, quite apart from making a fool of Tibetan Buddhism, is completely useless when it comes to extricating him from the difficulty of reincarnation."

Weiqun, who is known for his hardline stance on Tibet, said the Tibetan spiritual leader must respect tradition. China believes that the Dalai Lama, who fled into exile in India after a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is a violent separatist. However, the spiritual leader denies supporting violence and says he only wants genuine autonomy for Tibet. The two sides have been at loggerheads regarding the control over Tibetan Buddhism and the reincarnation debate. The Chinese government holds that according to tradition, its officially atheist Communist leaders have the right to approve the Dalai Lama's successor, as a right inherited from China's emperors. According to Tibetan Buddhism, the soul of a senior lama is reincarnated in the body of a child on his death.