By BILL PERRY

SYDNEY, Sept. 15 (UPI) -- Australia was treading on diplomatic thin ice Sunday as the dalai lama began a two-week "unofficial visit," political analysts said.

China has warned Australia that official receptions for Tibet's spiritual leader, who also campaigns for Tibet's independence from China, would harm relations between the two countries.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer risked a further backlash from China when he ignored these warnings to greet the dalai lama behind closed doors in a Sydney airport hotel late Saturday.

Downer insisted he and his wife, Nicky, were meeting the dalai lama in his capacity as a spiritual leader.

"My wife and I, as Australian citizens, were happy to accede to the requests made by the dalai lama's party to meet him, and I met him in a private capacity," Downer said. "I met him as a very distinguished and well-known religious leader."

Afterwards, both men met the media separately, although Downer and his wife did pose for a photograph showing both of them shaking hands with the dalai lama.

Despite the controversy, the dalai lama took the opportunity to speak on a political note when he said Australia could help Tibet.

"Australia, like any other nation, can help bring the Chinese to the negotiating table," he said.

He also said Downer shared his concern over human rights abuses in his country.

China annexed Tibet in 1950 claiming historic links. The dalai lama fled to sanctuary in India after a futile uprising in 1959. Since then he has toured the world seeking support for Tibetan independence.

Australia's next diplomatic hurdle will come if Prime Minister John Howard agrees to meet him, analysts said.

Howard, who leaves Australia on Monday for his first Asian visit as leader to Indonesia and Japan, said he was still undecided about such a meeting. He returns next Sunday when the dalai lama was scheduled to still be in the country.

Analysts said New Zealand Prime Minister Jim Bolger's decision to meet privately with the dalai lama during his visit there last week put pressure on Howard to do likewise.

They said Howard's advisers were also encouraged by the mild reponse from China following that meeting.

In the meantime, a decision by the speaker of the federal Parliament Bob Halvorsen in Canberra to allow the House of Representatives' Great Hall to be used by the dalai lama for a prayer session next week would also help inflame diplomatic sensitivities, analysts said.

During his visit, the 14th dalai lama was scheduled to address business groups and preside over a nine-day religious initiating ceremony at the Sydney Showgrounds.

Australia, with a population of 18 million, has an estimated 140,000 Buddhists, which is the nation's 10th largest and fastest-growing religion, according to official figures.