Beijing: China hopes India will stop using Tibet issues to interfere in domestic affairs and avoid affecting the development of ties, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

The Chinese ministry was responding to Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s comments on the Dalai Lama succession issue stating that Lama’s trust has the authority to identify his successor as the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, in a rare comment contradicting China's long-held position.

Mao Ning, the spokesperson of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, warned India against interfering in its domestic affairs at the expense of bilateral relations, urging it to be prudent in its words and actions.

"We hope the Indian side will fully understand the highly sensitive nature of Tibet-related issues, recognise the anti-China separatist nature of the 14th Dalai Lama," the spokesperson said.

Beijing says it has the right to approve the Dalai Lama's successor as a legacy from imperial times ever since the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader announced his reincarnation earlier this week.

The Dalai Lama insists that his successor will be born in a "free" country and urges his followers to reject any candidate appointed by Beijing.

The Chinese government says it has the sole authority to name his successor.

“No one has the right to interfere or decide who the successor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama will be,” the Rijiju said in a statement.

Rijiju, a practising Buddhist, was set to join the Dalai Lama’s birthday celebrations this weekend in the Himalayan

town of Dharamshala in Himachal Pradesh state.

The Dalai Lama, born Lhamo Dhondup, has been living in Dharamshala since 1959 when he fled Lhasa to escape the Chinese annexation. His escape to India sparked a wave of Tibetan exile and the formation of a government-in-exile in Dharamshala.

The Dalai Lama says he wants to visit Tibet one last time before he dies but only if Chinese authorities guarantee his return to India.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said he could visit but would have to stay in Tibet and “openly recognise that Tibet and Taiwan are inalienable parts of China”.

Relations between

India and China

nosedived after a deadly clash between border guards in 2020 but lately appeared to be

on the mend.