dalai lama to meet australian ministers

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.