BEIJING, Nov 4 (Reuter) - Tibet's government-in-exile in India accused China on Saturday of forcing high Tibetan lamas to come up with a rival candidate for the reincarnation of the second most senior monk in Tibetan Buddhism.

The charge could not be independently confirmed. Chinese officials were not available for comment.

"The Chinese authorities have summoned all high Tibetan lamas to Beijing this Sunday for a meeting in which they will be forced to come up with a rival candidate for the prestigious post," the government-in-exile said in a statement issued from its base in Dharamsala.

"Many of the lamas ordered to attend the Beijing meeting have feigned illness to avoid being forced to recognise a rival candidate," it quoted unidentified reliable sources as saying.

Last May, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, announced his recognition of a six-year-old Tibetan boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, as the recipient of the spirit of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died in 1989.

The move enraged China, provoking a stream of abuse against the Dalai Lama, whom it accused of using the move to try to split Tibet from China.

Beijing has branded the exiled god king's choice as illegal and void because he failed to seek China's approval.

China has ruled Tibet since 1950 when its troops invaded and overthrew the Buddhist theocracy in power. Nine years later a large-scale uprising exploded and, when it was crushed, the young Dalai Lama fled into India with thousands of followers.

Beijing, which stakes its claim of sovereignty over the remote Himalayan region back to the 13th century when Mongol hordes held sway over large parts of Asia, immediately began to reform Tibet radically along communist lines. Many monasteries were destroyed or disbanded.

China maintains it has final say over the appointment of senior lamas under terms of a 1792 Qing dynasty agreement, and says that it must approve both the Dalai and Panchen lamas.

Last May the leader of a team searching for the Panchen Lama's reincarnation vanished, apparently into state custody.

Tibetologists said Chadrel Rinpoche was detained in the southwestern city of Chengdu on May 17. He was reported to have been held on suspicion of notifying the Dalai Lama that his search team had identified the reincarnation. Chinese officials have said he was undergoing medical treatment.

Then in September Chadrel Rinpoche was formally removed as head of the committee that runs the Tashilunpo monastery in the Tibetan town of Shigatse. The monastery is the Panchen Lama's seat.

Beijing has regularly accused the Dalai Lama of trying to split China and of fomenting an independence movement in the region since he fled into exile.