Beijing, Nov. 9 (UP1) -- China ruled out Thursday any outside interference in a secret gathering of Tibetan religious leaders ordered to replace the Dalai Lama's choice for the new Panchen lama, the second most senior spiritual leader in Tibet

"The groups who are selecting the incarnate are composed of people from the Tibetan Buddhist community and they have done a lot of work in accordance with the religious rules and procedures and have made some progress," foreign ministry Shen Guofanq told a news conference.

"At present their work is still underway, Shen said. "External people do not have any right to ask those religious personnel to increase the so-called transparency because this is a matter for people in the religious community he said.

About 75 lamas were summoned to Beijing by the Communist Government for the clandestine meetings that began Sunday at the military-run Jingxi guesthouse and ordered to complete the final ceremonies in the search for the Panchen Lama.

The meeting was organized by the State Councils Religious Affairs Bureau, the United Front Department and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the peoples armed police in charge of maintaining the tight security arrangements, sources said.

Lamas handpicked from officially-recognized Buddhist groups are leading the ceremonies, with a goal of narrowing down Beijing-approved candidates to three boys, they said.

In May, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, announced that a 6-year-old Tibetan boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, was the recipient of the spirit of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died in 1989.

The Dalai Lama's move enraged Beijing, which stepped up its attacks him with a torrent of abuse.

At first, Beijing stopped short of writing off the boy as a fake because he was also found in an official government-sanctioned search.

But in July it branded the selection "illegal and invalid," saying the Dalai Lama had broken with required rituals and made his choice without the governments approval.

Beijing maintains it has the final say over the Panchen Lama's reincarnation, which rests an following a lottery from a golden urn presented in 1792 by a Manchu emperor of the Qing dynasty

The Dalai Lamas exiled Tibetan government in India has said lot-drawing was used to confirm only three of six high-ranking lamas since 1792 and was not used to identify the last Panchen Lama. It also has noted that the Dalai Lama and Panchen Lama have formally conferred recognition upon each other since about 1600, view generally supported by western scholarship.

The United States and other world governments have urged Beijing to respect the Dalai Lama's choice, but Beijing has accused the Dalai Lama of 'sabotage" dismissed such calls as "interference in China's internal affairs.

The Tibetan government in-exile has accused Chinese security agents kidnapping the child lama and arresting Chadrel Rinpoche, the abbot of Tashilunpo monastery in Xigaze, the holy seat of the Panchen Lama