Acting Australian PM dodges meeting with Dalai Lama

CANBERRA, Sept 17 (AFP) - Australia's acting prime minister and Trade Minister Tim Fischer refused to meet the Dalai Lama as he arrived at Parliament House for meetings with senior Australian political figures here Tuesday.

Fischer's refusal followed a warning by China's foreign ministry Monday of possible retaliation over Foreign Minister Alexander Downer's meeting with Tibet's spiritual leader-in-exile when he arrived in Australia on Saturday for a 15-day visit.

Fischer, who upset human rights groups and supporters of Tibet when he said last week that Chinese rule in Tibet had brought about many improvements, had announced at the same time that he did not plan to meet the Dala Lama during his current tour.

The Dalai Lama, who met Labor opposition leader Kim Beazley and members of the centrist Australian Democrats party instead, said he was not disappointed that Fischer had decided not to meet him because he did not want to embarrass anybody.

"So if they find some inconvenience, no problem," he said, adding that the main purpose of his visit was not politics, but "a promotion of human values."

Fischer, who has visited every country in Asia including Tibet three years ago, told reporters: "I have no plans to meet with the Dalai Lama on the occasion of this visit. The government will never formally recognise the visit.

"As the Dalai Lama and his quite large number of supporters have indicated at every stage, he comes as a religious leader. The government is not in the habit of particularly recognising visits by religious leaders."

Prime Minister John Howard, who left for a six-day trip to Indonesia and Japan on Monday, has meantime left his options open saying he may meet the Dalai Lama after he returns from Japan on Saturday.

The Australia Tibet Council issued a statement Tuesday calling for Howard to meet the Dalai Lama and to allow the meeting to be filmed, which Downer refused to do.

Australian Greens senator Bob Brown also said Howard should meet the Dalai Lama and not be swayed by pressure from Beijing.

Brown called on Canberra to support the release of the six-year-old Panchen Lama, the Dalai Lama's successor, whom Beijing has detained and replaced with a child of its own choice.

Brown urged Howard to call on China to work towards independence for Tibet and said Australia should work through the UN General Assembly to bring international pressure on China to end repression in Tibet.

"We want our nation's leaders to be counted when a global leader like the Dalai Lama, who cannot go to his own country, visits our shores," Brown told a rally of almost 100 people called to coincide with the Dalai Lama's visit.

Australian Democrats foreign affairs spokeswoman Vicki Bourne also called on China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama or his representatives.

"What he is saying is 'we want autonomy and we want freedom and we want no human rights abuses for the Tibetan people'. And everybody on earth should be able to agree with that, even the Chinese."