NEW DELHI, May 19 (UPI). A representative of the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual leader in exile, Friday said the Chinese government was trying to politicize the selection of one of Buddhism's top religious leaders.

The Dalai Lama, the faith's highest official, recently recognized the successor to the post of Pachen Lama, the second most important in the Tibetan religion. Beijing, however, has challenged the Dalai Lama's right to choose the high lama, who died in 1989.

"We expected the Chinese government would react this way," the Dalai Lama's spokesman in New Delhi, Jampal Chosang said.

Following the Dalai Lama's announcement of the new Panchen Lama, the Chinese government said the selection was illegitimate without the approval of the central government. Instead, China has vowed to select its own successor to the post.

"His Holiness, the Dalai Lama has conducted this search for the Pachen Lama in the spirit of the Buddhist religion," Chosang said. "China has chosen to politicize it."