By Trevor Marshallsea of AAP

BEIJING, Sept 19 AAP - China today again avoided predicting what specific damage may come to Sino-Australian ties due to the visit of the Dalai Lama, or detailing ways Australia could mend the damage it says has been done.

But Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang reitterated that the visit would "definitely" affect relations.

The Ministry yesterday told AAP China hoped the Australian Government would "take effective measures to correct its wrongdoing" in allowing the Dalai Lama's visit, which Beijing believes is aimed at pushing the cause of Tibetan independence.

But asked today what these measures might be, Shen refused to make suggestions, and also stopped short of detailing how China might retaliate to Australia's actions.

"I think (the visit) has cast a shadow over Sino-Australian relations," Shen said at a regular press briefing.

"It will affect the development of Sino-Australian relations, including economic and trade relations.

"Right now, of course I cannot say in which areas (it will harm relations) and what concrete measures we are going to take.

"But it will definitely affect Sino-Australian relations."

Shen reiterated China's official line that the Dalai Lama is not merely a religious figure but a political exile who strives to split his native Tibet from the Chinese "motherland".

The Dalai Lama fled into exile in northern India in 1959 after Chinese forces crushed a rebellion against Beijing's rule in Tibet.

China has occupied Tibet since 1950.