BEIJING, Sept 24 (Reuter) - Beijing said on Tuesday that Canberra was interfering in China's internal affairs by hosting Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and that this would affect political as well as trade ties.

"The Australian government receiving the Dalai Lama is interference in China's internal affairs," Foreign Ministry Shen Guofang told a news briefing in Beijing.

Australian Prime Minister John Howard, defying Chinese threats of trade retaliation, has agreed to meet the Dalai Lama in Sydney on Thursday.

The meeting between Howard and the Dalai Lama "would cast a shadow over Sino-Australian relations," Shen said.

"This shadow will of course affect Sino-Australian political ties. It is unavoidable that it will also affect Sino-Australian trade ties," Shen said.

China is Australia's sixth largest trading partner, with two-way trade worth US$5.2 billion in the year to June 30, 1995.

Beijing routinely opposes all attempts to muster international support by the Dalai Lama, whom it condemns as a pro-independence crusader out to split China.

"The Dalai Lama is not a purely religious figure. He is a politically exiled element," Shen said.

The Dalai Lama, who fled his Himalayan homeland after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, is seeking international pressure to force Beijing to open negotiations on autonomy for the vast but sparsely populated region.

The Tibetan god-king, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989, has urged Howard to lobby the Chinese government in supoport of his campaign. Australia officially regards Tibet as part of China.

China has been accused of widespread human rights abuses since troops invaded Tibet in 1950. Beijing denies the charges.