BEIJING, Sept 24 (AFP) - China warned Australia on Tuesday that a planned meeting between Prime Minister John Howard and the Dalai Lama would "cast a shadow" over Sino-Australian ties that would inevitably affect trade relations.

Howard's office confirmed Tuesday he would meet the Dalai Lama on Thursday in his official capacity as prime minister.

"We think this meeting is an interference in China's internal affairs which will cast a shadow over Sino-Australian relations," Foreign Ministry spokesman Shen Guofang said.

"That shadow will not only affect political ties, but also economic and trade relations," Shen said.

The spokesman stressed that the Dalai Lama was the figurehead of Tibetan separatists and, as such, was more a political than a religious leader. Howard's office said the prime minister was meeting the Dalai Lama only in his capacity as a religious leader.

"As a country that has diplomatic ties with China ... Australia should not receive a political exile who is intent on splitting China," Shen said, adding that anyone with political sense should be aware of the principle involved.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer welcomed the Dalai Lama when he arrived in Sydney at the start of a 15-day visit to Australia last Saturday.

The Dalai Lama, who has visited Australia twice previously, met former prime minister Paul Keating during his last visit in 1992.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner fled his homeland after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

Canberra was the focus of a strongly-worded signed article put out Tuesday by the Xinhua news agency which also condemned the Dalai Lama's visits this year to Japan, New Zealand and the United States.

"What he has done has laid bare his ugly face of seeking power and wealth by betraying his motherland," Xinhua said.

"Plenty of facts have demonstrated that the Dalai is the chieftain of the splittist clique attempting to seek the independence of Tibet; a chessman of the global anti-China forces and the root for creating social disturbance in Tibet," it added.

The article poured scorn on the assertions of some Australian politicians that meetings with the Dalai Lama were not an expression of support for Tibetan independence and resulted from a value-judgement that differed from Beijing's view.

"Such a concept of values means one's deeds do not match one's words. This is really absurd," it said, accusing foreign politicians of refusing to abandon a policy of interfering in China's internal affairs.