Australia on Wednesday said it would not stop Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama from visiting the country.
China has condemned Prime Minister John Howard's plan to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader, and has called on future visits to be banned.
Asking China to respect Australia's way of life, Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer on Wednesday vowed to allow the Dalai Lama to visit whenever he likes.
"It is just not a proposition for us to refuse to give someone like the Dalai Lama a visa to visit Australia," he said, adding, "China has a very different political system to Australia's but I had ask the Chinese to respect the way our culture and political system works. This is one of the world's great liberal democracies and someone like the Dalai Lama will always be able to come to Australia."
"The Dalai Lama is not using Australia as a platform to argue for an independent Tibet," he said.
He further said Australia's relationship with China is strong and based on mutual benefit.
