The Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, is considering appointing a regent to lead the Tibetan movement after his death until his reincarnation is old enough to take over.

The idea was discussed this week at an unprecedented meeting of 600 Tibetan exiles in Dharamsala, the northern Indian town where the Dalai Lama set up his government in exile after fleeing Tibet in 1959.

It is the latest proposal intended to ensure a smooth succession after the death of the Dalai Lama, who is 73 and has been suffering recently from ill health. The Tibetan exiles are keen to prevent China from hijacking his reincarnation, as it has tried to do with other of the most senior positions in Tibetan Buddhism.

The most likely candidate for the regency is the 23-year-old Karmapa Lama, the third highest in the Tibetan Buddhist hierarchy, who was born and raised in Tibet but escaped to India in 2000 in a huge embarrassment for China's government.

"It's now being considered at the highest level," said Dr Lobsang Sangay, a Tibetan research fellow at Harvard Law School who put forward the idea at the meeting.

"A lot of people are talking about the Karmapa as regent," he told The Times.

Tenzin Takhla, a spokesman for the Dalai Lama, confirmed that a regency was an option and that the Karmapa could, in theory, take the position, although he said that nothing had been decided yet.

"If we want the traditional way, then usually there's a regent appointed," he said. "He would be not so much a political leader, as a spiritual leader."

Delegates at last week's meeting agreed to stick to the Dalai Lama's policy of seeking autonomy, rather than independence, from China, but many called for a clearer succession plan.

Dalai Lamas are traditionally chosen by senior monks who interpret signals from the last incumbent after his death, search for promising young boys and then set them a number of tests.

The current Dalai Lama — the 14th — was born into a farming family in eastern Tibet and identified at the age of two after passing tests, including identifying his predecessor's rosary.

However, exiled Tibetans fear that following this process would leave them leaderless while the next reincarnation grows up, and open the door for China to appoint its own rival Dalai Lama.