The Dalai Lama will not recognise the legitimacy of a two-year-old boy lama ordained by China, the exiled-Tibetan government in India has said.

The boy was ordained as the reincarnation of the Sixth Reting Rinpoche in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on Sunday after being identified by Chinese-approved monks.

But a spokesman for the Dalai Lama in the Indian town of Dharamsala said that the new lama would have no legitimacy without the Dalai Lama's approval.

The announcement comes soon after the sudden departure to India of Tibetan Buddhism's third highest lama, the Karmapa, which was seen as a major blow to China's policy in Tibet.

The BBC's Beijing correspondent says the newly-ordained lama could become an important part of China's campaign to assert its control over the Himalayan region.

The boy was selected from more than 700 boys through divination, including letting candidates choose possessions of the previous Reting, a Lhasa government official said last week.

The Reting is significant as one of the few Tibetan lamas who can act as regent in the absence of the Dalai Lama, who held political power in Tibet before the Communists took power in Beijing in 1949.