BEIJING, Nov. 13 (UPI) -- Chinese security forces in Tibet are braced for an outbreak of protests as China moves to select its own reincarnation of the panchen lama, Tibet's second highest religious leader, the dalai lama's Tibetan government in-exile said Monday.

"China's propaganda campaign justifying its right to appoint the panchen lama has been in full swing for weeks, but now we are troubled over reports that security forces have been deployed around the Tibetan capital of Lhasa," said Tempa Tsering, a spokesman for the dalai lama's enclave in Dharamsala, India.

China was "forcing the campaign down the throats of the Tibetan people," Tsering said. "I do not believe they will accept it."

On Sunday, about 75 senior Buddhist lamas and Communist Party officials from Tibet and neighboring Qinghai and Gansu announced they had agreed to accept the government's three final candidates and the rites for identifying the reincarnation of the 10th panchen lama, who died in 1989.

The three boys were among 28 found in the original 6-year government-sanctioned search conducted by lamas of the Tashilhunpo Monastery, the traditional Tibetan home of the panchens near Tibetan the city of Xigatze.

Despite the government's selection of the three boys, the dalai lama chose in May 6-year-old Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the recipient of the spirit of the 10th panchen lama.

The Chinese government rejected the dalai lama's selection, calling his choice an "act of fraud" aimed at "disrupting Tibet's stability and undermining China's national unity through religious means."

They reiterated Beijing's longstanding claim that only the central government has the right to recognize new incarnations of high-ranking lamas, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Senior Chinese leader and Politburo member Li Ruihuan told the gathering of religious leaders the dalai lama had tampered with the selection process, violated religious rituals, historical conventions and "negated the supreme authority of the central government."

"These activities are entirely illegal and invalid," Li said.

The dalai lama claims the panchen lamas have conferred official recognition upon each other since 1600.

Tsering said the dalai lama was not prepared to make a statement, but would probably wait until Beijing carried out the final selection ceremony.

Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1950, claiming the region had been a part of China since the 13th century. The dalai lama fled China to India after an abortive anti-Chinese uprising in 1959.

The 10th panchen lama, despite suffering persecution during the Cultural Revolution (1966-77), stayed in China and was the only Tibetan leader of national stature to have endorsed some of the Communist Party's policies.

"I fear that in the days and weeks to come, we are likely to see new tensions in Tibet as a result of this China's action," Tsering said. He said the Tibetan government in-exile had not given up its claim that Chinese security agents kidnapped Gedhun Choekyi Nyima and his parents from their home in early July.

China has denied the boy was abducted, but Tsering believes the child might never be freed because Beijing's own candidate would never gain any wide acceptance.

Tsering said the meeting in Beijing last week may not have helped China solve the difficult problem of finding a senior and respected lama to conduct the final ceremony in Tibet and legitimize the government's choice. The most senior and popular Tibetan leader in China today, Ngapo Ngawang Jigme was conspicuously missing from the Beiing conclave last week. He is known to be loyal to the dalai lama.

Although the Communist Party appears bent on using coercion to force obedience, "It is a given that the majority of lamas will never recognize a new panchen lama without the dalai lama's confirmation," Tsering said.

Tibetans may be faced with two rival panchen lamas but without total control over the appointments of religious leaders, Beijing will not be able to totally crush opposition to its rule in the Himalayan region, he said.