Dalai Lama optimistic there will be more talks with China

Sydney , June 13 Kyodo - The Dalai Lama said Thursday he is optimistic about future talks with the
Chinese government and that he expects a seventh meeting will go ahead next month.

The meeting between Tibetan government-in-exile officials and Beijing
representatives had been postponed following last month's devastating
earthquake in Sichuan Province, the Dalai Lama said at a press conference in
Australia.

He also appealed to his supporters not to disrupt the Olympic torch when it
passes through Tibet next week and he predicted the torch relay through the
Tibetan capital Lhasa would be peaceful.

''We have fully supported the Olympic Games right from the beginning,'' he
said. ''The torch is part of that.''

''Over 1 billion Chinese brothers and sisters feel really proud of that. We
should respect that,'' the Dalai Lama said.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, who arrived in Sydney on Wednesday to
host a series of meditation conferences, said his five-day trip was not
politically motivated.

He is, however, set to meet with the leader of the opposition Brendan Nelson
and Immigration Minister Chris Evans, who as acting prime minister will be
representing Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, who is overseas.

Rudd, who arrives back in Australia on Sunday, just before the Dalai Lama
concludes his trip, has defended his decision not to meet with him this time,
noting that they have met many times before.

Meanwhile, China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday called on the Australian
government ''not to allow the Dalai Lama to use his trip to Australia to engage
in separatist activities.''

''The Chinese government firmly opposes the Dalai Lama engaging
in separatist
activities abroad. China also firmly opposes any country providing the Dalai
Lama with a platform to engage in separatist activities,'' Foreign Ministry
spokesman Qin Gang said in Beijing.

''We request the Australian government to pay close attention to China's
serious concern,'' he said.

The Dalai Lama has been in exile since an abortive uprising against Chinese
rule in Tibet in 1959. He won the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize for his consistent
resistance to the use of violence in his campaign for greater Tibetan autonomy.

He insists he seeks not independence but ''genuine autonomy'' for Tibet to
protect its religion, language and culture, and has denied any involvement in
weeks of uprisings by ethnic Tibetans that began in Lhasa in March and spread.

Australia has urged the Chinese government to discuss Tibet's future with the
Dalai Lama.==Kyodo