A top Chinese official warned on Friday that the central government in Beijing must approve the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, and would not recognise any candidate that it had not endorsed, the official Xinhua agency said.

The Dalai Lama’s succession has become a prickly issue, as the Nobel Prize winner ages and his health declines.

He has suggested that his incarnation might be found outside China, or even that Tibetans themselves could order a vote on whether to continue an institution that once gave one monk both spiritual and temporal sway over Tibet.

But the Chinese leadership appears determined not to cede any kind of authority to a candidate beyond their control.

Now this has got to be the ultimate in government intervention into a private life.  I mean reincarnation is preordained, or at least I thought it was.  But now the Chinese government has said that it has the final say in the process.  Damn!  I thought government banning porno was an intrusion…but what do I know?