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SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - THE Australian government remained tight-lipped on Tuesday about any plans for high-level talks with the Dalai Lama when he visits this week.
The Tibetan spiritual leader is due to arrive in Australia Wednesday on the second leg of a five-country world tour which started in Britain last month, where he was met by Prime Minister Gordon Brown despite protests by Beijing.
China accuses the Dalai Lama of fomenting secessionist unrest in Tibet, where a clampdown on dissent in March brought international criticism of Beijing's policies in the Himalayan region.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Mandarin speaker and avowed Sinophile, is on a trip to Japan and Indonesia and his spokesman said that he would not be back in time to meet the monk.
The Australia Tibet Council support group said, however, that Mr Rudd would have time to meet the Dalai Lama before he left Australia next Monday and urged him to do so.
'Mr Rudd was at the forefront of recent international diplomatic efforts to encourage direct talks between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama but so far appears less than enthusiastic to meet the Dalai Lama himself,' said spokesman Paul Bourke.
Mr Rudd publicly raised concerns over human rights issues in Tibet when he visited Beijing in April and it is seen as unlikely that his government would snub the Dalai Lama.
Mr Bourke admitted that silence over whether any senior government representative would meet the Dalai Lama was most likely aimed at limiting the period Beijing has to protest ahead of any meeting.
China strongly criticised Brown for meeting the Dalai Lama during his visit to London last month, calling it interference in China's internal affairs.
Spurred by international pressure over the unrest in Tibet, however, Chinese officials met the Dalai Lama's envoys in early May for a day of talks which led to an agreement to restart formal discussions that broke off last year. -- AFP
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