BEIJING, Jan 15,(Reuter) - China's First Automotive Works has donated a luxury Little Red Flag sedan to the official reincarnation of the Panchen Lama, a boy of 6 who ranks as the second highest monk in Tibetan Buddhism.

The car was delivered in December to the Communist Party's United Front Department, responsible for relations with China's minorities, to show the best wishes of the workers of the plant, the Workers' Daily said Monday.

China's enthronement of Gyaincain Norbu as the "soul boy" recipient of the spirit of the 10th Panchen Lama, who died in 1989, aroused a storm because it superseded the announcement of another boy by Tibet's exiled god-king, the Dalai Lama.

China says it has final say over senior lamas under a 1792 agreement between Tibet and the Qing dynasty. Tibetan exiles dispute this, saying the pact was informal and set not with China but with occupying Manchus who were toppled in 1911.

Beijing asserted sovereignty over Tibet after China's 1949 Communist takeover, sending troops to purge Tibetan "feudalism" and install socialism.