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 14th Dalai Lama turns 90 on Sunday and is expected to give his clearest signal yet on how his reincarnation will be determined at the event in Dharamshala, India, where the Dalai Lama has lived since fleeing Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.