Officials to see Dalai Lama but PM apparently heeded caution

Senior Australian officials are to meet the Dalai Lama this week despite official warnings from China that such talks could damage relations with Beijing.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader will meet senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade as well as the president of Australia's Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Professor Alice Tay.

A spokeswoman for the department said officials would 'hear the Dalai Lama's views on the situation in Tibet and convey the Government's view on the human rights dialogue as a practical and effective way of improving human rights standards in China and Tibet'.

Earlier this year Foreign Minister Tang Jaixuan warned members of the Australian Government not to meet the Dalai Lama during his nine-day visit.

Prime Minister John Howard apparently heeded the caution, declining to meet the Dalai Lama during the first part of the exiled Tibetan leader's trip, and then embarking on a hectic Asian tour which took him from East Timor's independence celebrations, via Singapore, to China.

Nor will Australia's Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, or the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Simon Crean, meet the Dalai Lama.

The 66-year-old Tibetan leader has politely rejected suggestions that he has been snubbed by Australia's political heavyweights.