New Delhi, July 2 -- In reaffirming that there will be a successor to him after his death, the 14th Dalai Lama has opted to preserve the centuries-old tradition of finding his reincarnation rather than yield to the short-term strategic temptation of outwitting China by naming one in his lifetime.

He made the much-anticipated announcement about the institution of the Dalai Lama Wednesday, July 2, in McLeod Ganj, a hill town in northern India, ending years of uncertainty over the defining question of who after him. The language of the announcement, which comes four days before his 90th birthday on July 6, is constructed to emphatically say that Beijing will have no role at all to play in the matter of choosing his successor.

"I hereby rei...