ANBERRA, June 11 (Reuters) - The Dalai Lama arrived in Australia for a five-day visit on Wednesday, with supporters urging the Australian government to encourage China to return to talks with envoys of the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.
The Dalai Lama will meet Immigration Minister Chris Evans, who is acting head of government while Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is overseas, as well as Foreign Minister Stephen Smith.
"This reflects the Dalai Lama's status as an international religious leader and the significant domestic interest in the Dalai Lama's visit, including from the Tibetan immigrant community in Australia," a government spokesman said.
He will also hold a series of public lectures on meditation during his trip.
The meetings with government officials are likely to upset Beijing, which is keen to contain the Tibet issue ahead of the Olympics in August.
China blames a "Dalai Lama clique" for violent protests in Tibet in March, and for protests that disrupted the Olympic torch relay.
Chinese officials met the Dalai Lama's representatives for talks on May 4, but further talks originally set to start on Wednesday were postponed after an earthquake in China in May killed or left missing nearly 87,000 people.
China's Foreign Minister Yang Jeichi on Tuesday called on the Dalai Lama and his supporters to stop their Tibet protests and attempts to "ruin the Olympics" to enable further talks.
The Australian Tibet Council said it was concerned the comments signalled China wanted to avoid further talks on Tibet ahead of the Olympics.
"With less than two months remaining before the Olympics, the Australia Tibet Council fears that the Chinese government believes that it can use delaying tactics to avoid addressing the Tibet issue," council chief executive officer Paul Bourke said.
"It's clear that it is going to take concerted pressure from concerned governments for the talks even to go ahead and a major shift in China's approach for results-orientated formal negotiations to begin before the Games."
He said the Australia Tibet Council had asked the Australian government to talk to the Dalai Lama about ways to encourage further talks with China.
Former prime minister John Howard and Rudd, who was then opposition leader, met the Dalai Lama during his last visit to Australia in 2007.
Rudd returns to Australia on Sunday after visiting Japan and Indonesia, leaving little time for a meeting before the Dalai Lama leaves the country early on Monday.
The Dalai Lama fled into exile in India in 1959 after an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in Tibet. He says he advocates autonomy for the Himalayan region, and not independence.
About 30 supporters, and a small group of pro-China protesters, were at the airport on Wednesday when the Dalai Lama arrived in Sydney.