Here's a recap...

• Earlier today, the Dalai Lama shared a video message confirming that the 600-year-old institution of Tibetan spiritual leader would continue after his death and that he will have a successor.
• He said only the Gaden Phodrang Trust, which he founded, had the authority to recognise his future reincarnation - "no-one else has any such authority to interfere"
• He made the long-awaited announcement in the northern Indian town of Dharamshala, where he lives in exile since 1959 when China annexed Tibet
• China regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist. It says it has the right to choose his successor
• Hundreds of followers have gathered in Dharamshala to celebrate the Dalai Lama's 90th birthday this week, they include some celebrity guests such as Hollywood star Richard Gere.

We are bringing you more updates.

In his remarks, which have concluded just now, Penpa Tsering also accused China of politicising the Dalai Lama's reincarnation.

The process of choosing the Dalai Lama, he said, is as per the unique Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

"Hence, we not only strongly condemn the People's Republic of China's usage of reincarnation subject for their political gain, we will never accept it."

China, which annexed Tibet in the 1950s, regards the Dalai Lama as a separatist and says it has the right to choose his successor.

At the press conference, Samdhong Rinpoche, a senior aide of the Dalai Lama, answered BBC correspondent Samira Hussain's question about whether the Tibetan spiritual leader will share another message about who his successor will be.

"Whenever the time comes, it will be internal and there will be no other public message from His Holiness on this matter," Rinpoche said.

Penpa Tsering added that the core process of recognising the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama will be done as per Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that senior monks are reincarnated after death and a Dalai Lama is chosen if officials are convinced that the one they are choosing harbours the soul of his predecessor.

The current Dalai Lama was identified as the reincarnation of his predecessor when he was just two years old.

Penpa Tsering adds that Tibetans from around the world made "an earnest request with single-minded devotion" that the position of the Dalai Lama as the top spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism should continue "for the benefit of all sentient beings in general and Buddhist in particular".

"In response to this overwhelming supplication, His Holiness has shown infinite compassion and finally agreed to accept our appeal on this special occasion of his 90th birthday," he adds.

Image source, Getty Images

Penpa Tsering says that the participants of the 15th Tibetan Religious Conference have made the "unanimous resolution" to support the Dalai Lama's announcement on his succession.

Penpa Tsering, the head of Tibet's government-in-exile, is now speaking at a press conference. We'll bring you updates from there.

Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

The Dalai Lama has been living in India since 1959 after he fled Tibet as a young man. The circumstances of his departure remain a defining incident in Tibetan history, known to exiled Tibetans as their National Uprising Day.

On 10 March 1959, a Chinese general invited the Dalai Lama to attend a dance performance. But the Tibetans feared it was a trap to abduct the Dalai Lama, and many began gathering by his palace to protect him.

This evolved into protests against the Chinese annexation of Tibetan territory since 1950. The People’s Liberation Army launched a brutal crackdown and thousands are said to have died.

Days later, the Dalai Lama fled, a decision he said was based on divine orders from his personal oracle, external. He disguised himself as a soldier and slipped into the crowd one night. Together with an entourage and thousands of followers, he arrived at the Indian border after a gruelling 15-day trek across the Himalayas.

Indian guards escorted them to Bomdila - a town in the present-day state of Arunachal Pradesh - after they were granted asylum, according to the Dalai Lama’s website.

Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter

China has long held claims over Tibetan territory, and in 1950 following the establishment of the People’s Republic of China under Communist rule, thousands of People’s Liberation Army troops marched into Tibet.

Over the next few years, Chinese troops continued to tighten control over the annexed territory, particularly after the 10 March 1959 uprising that saw the Dalai Lama flee into exile.

Eventually Tibet’s borders were redrawn, creating the Tibet Autonomous Region as well as several Tibetan prefectures and counties in four provinces in the north and west of China – Sichuan, Gansu, Qinghai and Yunnan.

Samira Hussain
Reporting from Dharamshala

There had been a lot of anticipation around what the Dalai Lama would say today.

The announcement was made by him moments ago in the Library and Archive centre just behind the main monastery.

It was like a sea of maroon inside, with monks from different parts of the world in attendance.

Over the past few days, hundreds of his followers had been arriving in the Himalayan town of Dharamshala, where he lives in exile, to participate in his 90th birthday celebrations. Events began on Monday - the Dalai Lama's birthday according to the Tibetan lunar calendar - and will continue to 6 July, his official birthday.

The celebrations are being attended by more than 7,000 guests, including a number of Indian ministers.

Hollywood actor Richard Gere, a long-time follower, is also there.

Beijing is yet to react to the Dalai Lama's statement, but in a series of articles published in the run-up to the video, state media had dismissed the Dalai Lama’s claim that his successor would be born outside China and insisted that reincarnation shouldn’t be decided by an individual.

“At its core, his intention remains the same - to deny the traditional religious rituals and historical conventions that have governed the Dalai Lama reincarnation system for centuries, and to manipulate the reincarnation process for his own purposes,” The Global Times wrote, external.

The article argued that the identification of the reincarnation of leaders in Tibetan Buddhism needs to happen through the lot-drawing system - where names are drawn from a golden urn.

The practice was introduced in 1792 and has been used to select previous Lamas - but critics say it has been manipulated by the Chinese authorities, a charge they deny.

Another article published in China's state news agency Xinhua, external, argues there has never been “a precedent in the history of Tibetan Buddhism” where the reincarnated individual alone decides the matter and that any attempt to “politicise the reincarnation” will ultimately “prove futile”.

Grand celebrations are under way in Dharamshala in northern India as the Dalai Lama, the spiritual head of Tibetan Buddhism, turns 90 this week. Celebrations began on Monday - the Dalai Lama's birthday according to the Tibetan lunar calendar. Visuals from earlier this week show hundreds gathered to seek his blessings. Famous Hollywood actor and long-time follower, Richard Gere, was among those present.

Image source, Getty Images

Born as Lhamo Dhondup in 1935 to a farming family, the 14th Dalai Lama was just two years old when he was identified as the reincarnation of the Thubten Gyatso, the 13th Dalai Lama.

In 1940, he was moved from his home, a small hamlet in northeastern Tibet, to the Potala Palace - which was once the seat of the Dalai Lama - and declared the spiritual leader of Tibetans. He was also given a new name: Tenzin Gyatso.

There began his monastic education. His curriculum covered a range of topics and subjects, such as logic, Sanskrit grammar, medicine – and most importantly, Buddhist philosophy.

In 1959, at the age of 23, he fled to India with thousands of other Tibetans after a failed anti-Chinese uprising, and has lived in exile in Dharamshala ever since.

In 1989, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his "nonviolent struggle to protect Tibetan identity”.

For decades he has been regarded as an influential global figure, his following extending far beyond Buddhism.

On his website, he describes himself as “a simple Buddhist monk”.

Tessa Wong
Asia Digital Reporter

Image source, Getty Images

As the foremost leader in Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama is considered to be the living manifestation of Avalokiteshvara or Chenrezig, the patron saint of Tibet.

The role of the Dalai Lama is ancient – there have been 14 Dalai Lamas since at least the 15th Century.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that when the Dalai Lama dies, his soul is reincarnated in another person and an elaborate process is followed to identify this successor.

Since 1642, the Dalai Lama has acted as both the political and spiritual leader of Tibetans.

But this has changed with the current Dalai Lama, who chose to divest his political leadership duties to a democratically-elected Tibetan government-in-exile.

Still, he remains an important figurehead, not just as a spiritual leader but also a living symbol of exiled Tibetans’ hope of reclaiming their homeland one day.

We’ve just heard from the Dalai Lama, who in a much-awaited video message, has said that the centuries-old institution will continue.

In his message, he says he has received requests from Tibetans worldwide who did not want the institution of the Dalai Lama to end after his death.

“In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue,” he says.

He also reiterated that the process of finding and recognising his reincarnation would exclusively lie with the Gaden Phodrang Foundation - an organisation he founded in 2015 to maintain and support the Dalai Lama’s religious and spiritual duties.

“No one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter,” he adds.

In his book Voice for the Voiceless, which released in March, the Dalai Lama had suggested that this might happen, also stating that the successor will be born outside China.

But this is the first time that the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has said so clearly that the tradition of choosing a successor will continue.