Weeks before the Dalai Lama ruled out China's role in choosing his successor, President Xi Jinping met a Tibetan Buddhist monk installed three decades ago by Beijing as the faith's No. 2 leader, the Panchen Lama.

The Dalai Lama said Wednesday there will be a successor after his death. But China insists that it alone has the authority to approve the next religious leader.

The Dalai Lama has announced that he will have a successor after his death, continuing a centuries-old tradition that has become a flashpoint in the struggle with China’s Communist Party over Tibet’s future.