SYDNEY (AFP) — Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Wednesday denied snubbing the Dalai Lama, who is in Australia on the second leg of a five-nation tour which has brought protests from Beijing.
Rudd told a news conference in Tokyo, where he is on an official visit, that he was ready to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader in the future after missing him in Australia because of his trip to Japan and Indonesia.
Noting that he had met the Nobel Peace Prize winner previously, when he was leader of the opposition before his centre-left Labor party swept to power in November elections, Rudd resorted to characteristic self-questioning mode.
"Would I meet the Dalai again in the future? I would see no cause to deviate from the practice I've adopted in the past, which is to meet with him as well," Rudd said.
"That's been our position for a long, long time, there is no change to it, nor is there likely to be any change in the future," said the Mandarin-speaking avowed Sinophile who seeks closer ties with China, Australia's biggest trading partner.
But the leader of the Australian Greens, Senator Bob Brown, urged Rudd to find time for talks with the Tibetan spiritual leader between his return to Australia on Sunday night and the Dalai Lama's departure on Monday.
Brown also called on Rudd to consider boycotting the Beijing Olympics in August "unless China enters into meaningful dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives."
The 72-year-old Buddhist monk will be met by Immigration Minister Chris Evans, who will be acting prime minister, and by Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.
Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard will be out of the country, though she was in Australia on Wednesday, when the Dalai Lama arrived.
When the Tibetan visited Britain last month he was met by Prime Minister Gordon Brown, provoking strong objections from Beijing, which portrays government meetings with the monk as interference in its internal affairs.
Brown also drew criticism from within Britain for choosing to meet the Dalai Lama at Lambeth Palace, the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury, rather than at his Downing Street offices -- suggesting that it was a spiritual, not a political meeting.
There was no immediate reaction from the Chinese leadership to the announcement that the Tibetan would hold talks with the Australian ministers this week.
China accuses the monk of fomenting secessionist unrest in Tibet, where a crackdown on dissent in March brought international criticism of Beijing's policies in the Himalayan region.
The Dalai Lama's representative in Australia, Tensing Atisha, told AFP that while there would be some disappointment that Rudd would not meet the Buddhist leader, the decision was up to the government.
"We will go by the wish of the Australian government, whoever they think is appropriate to meet his holiness," he said.
The March unrest in Tibet will likely be the focus of those discussions.
"I'm sure the recent unrest in Tibet and ongoing human rights violations in Tibet will definitely come up," Atisha said.
Rudd won plaudits during a visit to Beijing in April for publicly raising concerns over human rights issues in Tibet and urging the Chinese leadership to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader.
Spurred by international pressure, 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.
The Dalai Lama is due to head to the United States in July, France in August and Switzerland in October.
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