CANBERRA, Sept 26 (AFP) - American actor and spokesman on Tibetan human rights Richard Gere Thursday praised Australian Prime Minister John Howard as courageous for agreeing to meet the Dalai Lama.

"The Prime Minister John Howard has shown an incredible courage in welcoming His Holiness," Gere said.

"There are nations in this world who will not do the right thing for fear of retribution from the Chinese," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

Howard has said he will meet the Dalai Lama in Sydney at 5pm (0700 GMT) Thursday.

Gere said the Dalai Lama had been received graciously and generously on his trip to Australia and that Australians had been very supportive of the people of Tibet.

However, Gere said Howard would have shown even greater courage if he had agreed to meet the Dalai Lama as the head of Tibet rather than as a religious leader, but said it was still a more significant stand than that taken by other nations.

"It would have been more courageous but this is an extraordinary step that he's taken," Gere said.

Gere said he had campaigned for the rights of Tibetans and other exiled communities around the world for more than 20 years.

He said he had also spoken on the issue to the US Senate and House of Representatives and the European Parliament.

On Wednesday Howard said he would not bow to Chinese threats of economic retaliation for his planned meeting with the Dalai Lama.

"No self-respecting Prime Minister of this country will ever bow to that kind of threat," he said.

His comment came as Beijing stepped up the pressure on Australia over the visit by the Dalai Lama warning that there would be a price to pay over the Prime Minister's decision to meet him.

China regards Tibet's spiritual leader-in-exile as a traitor determined to split the motherland.

China's state-run media has described the decisions of Howard and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer to meet the Dalai Lama as "absurd" and an interference in China's internal affairs.

A commentary, released by the official Xinhua news agency, has said Australian politicians who decided to meet the Dalai Lama had deserted Australia's policy of recognising Tibet as a part of China.

Australian Trade Minister Tim Fischer said Wednesday relations with China are strong enough to survive the proposed meeting.