Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the Dalai Lama, on an 11-day tour, was a significant religious figure and it was up to Australians to decide which world figures they met.

Prime Minister John Howard is scheduled to meet the Buddhist leader in Sydney on Friday, while Labor Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd met him on Tuesday night, reversing an earlier refusal. “China has a very different political system from Australia. I’ve asked the Chinese to respect the way our culture and our political system works,” Downer told Australian television.

“It’s just not a proposition for us to refuse to give someone like the Dalai Lama a visa to visit Australia.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the Dalai Lama’s Australian tour could harm bilateral ties. China is now Canberra’s biggest trading partner and commodity export customer.

Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the Dalai Lama was not a purely religious figure, but a long-term political exile who engages in separatism and ethnic sabotage of Chinese unity.

“We express our strong dissatisfaction and stern representations over Australia ignoring China and insisting on allowing the Dalai to engage in activities in Australia,” Qin said.

Downer said that while the 71-year-old was always welcome in Australia, it did not mean Canberra failed to recognise Chinese sovereignty over Tibet or other political issues.

“Obviously, while he’s in our country we’ll make up our own minds who meets with him. It’s simply a matter of us in a liberal democracy meeting people who are of broad international significance as religious leaders,” he said.

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