BEIJING, Nov 10 (Reuter) - With senior lamas gathered in Beijing to identify the reincarnation of Tibet's second holiest monk, China has defended its search for the "soul boy" by saying procedures must submit to Communist Party leadership.

In a front-page notice entitled "Answering Questions on the Reincarnation of the 10th Panchen Lama," the Tibet Daily told the people of the deeply religious Himalayan region that Beijing had done its utmost to search for the 11th Panchen Lama. The article is the latest in China's barrage of propaganda to prevent an outbreak of pro-independence unrest among Tibetans, many of whom have violently opposed Chinese rule since the People's Liberation Army occupied the region in 1950.

Within two days of the death of the 10th Panchen Lama on January 28, 1989, the State Council, or cabinet, ordered full funeral honours along with preservation of the body as well as a search for his reincarnation, said the November 1 edition of the newspaper received in Beijing on Friday.

About 75 of Tibet's most senior lamas were gathered in Beijing for final rites to identify the reincarnation of their second holiest lama from three final candidates, Chinese sources said.

The Beijing-approved rites are to select the "soul boy," in whom the 10th Panchen Lama is believed to have been reincarnated, through an ancient and rigorous system of tests.

The rituals were expected to be completed before President and Communist Party chief Jiang Zemin leaves for South Korea on Monday so that he could receive the lamas, the sources said.

The Tibet Daily attacked the region's exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama, saying he had disrupted and politicised the search by illegally announcing in May that a six-year-old Tibetan boy, Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, had been identified.

The child had been eliminated from the final three boys and replaced with another child from western Qinghai province which borders Tibet and is an ethnically Tibetan region, the sources said.

Beijing has regularly accused the Dalai Lama of trying to split China and of fomenting an independence movement in Tibet since he fled into exile after an abortive uprising in 1959.

In meetings to track the search for the reincarnation, the State Council has laid out five principles that must be followed, the Tibet Daily said in an article prepared by the religious affairs committee of the region.

These are patriotism; that responsibility for the search lies with the Tashilhunpo monastery that is the seat of the Panchen Lama; that the search must be inside China; results must be submitted to the Communist Party for approval; and the child must be trained at the Tashilunpo monastery.

"These can be summarised in two principles, the first that in religion it is most important to obey religious rules and historical systems and the second that in politics one must uphold patriotism and the leadership of the Communist Party," the Tibet Daily said.

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

In 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 southwestern Chengdu on suspicion of notifying the Dalai Lama that his search team had identified the reincarnation. Chinese officials have said he was undergoing medical treatment. In September Chadrel Rinpoche was formally removed as head of the committee that runs the Tashilhunpo monastery in the Tibetan town of Xigaze.