The Dalai Lama’s successor will be born outside China, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says in a new book, raising the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of the Himalayan region he fled more than six decades ago.

Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama has announced that his successor will be born outside of China, marking a major shift from his previous stance. The declaration, made in Dalai Lama's new book ‘Voice for the Voiceless’ released on March 11,

In 1959, at 23 years old, the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, fled to India with thousands of Tibetans following a failed uprising against Mao Zedong's Communist rule.