BEIJING (AFP) — Unrest in Tibet will not affect China's plans to take the Olympic torch to the summit of Mount Everest, officials with the Beijing Games organising committee said Saturday.
"The preparation work for the torch relay inside Tibet and to the summit of Mount Everest will not be affected by the rioting and is going smoothly," committee spokesman Sun Weide told AFP.
"The Mount Everest leg will not be affected," he said when asked if the relay would be impacted by the violence in the Himalayan region.
An official with the Beijing Olympic torch relay department, who declined to give his name, also said the Mount Everest leg would not be impacted.
"We will not cancel it," he said.
The Olympic torch is set to scale the Tibetan peak in May as part of the domestic leg of the relay for the Beijing Olympics, which start on August 8.
Violent protests broke out in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa on Friday, the most serious unrest to challenge China's control since 1989.
At least 10 people died in the unrest, state-run Xinhua news agency said.
Tour operators said foreign tourists were now being denied access to Tibet.
The decision to include Everest on the torch route that also passes through Lhasa and other parts of Tibet has triggered controversy as a highly symbolic moment for China in its near 60-year rule of Tibet.
Pro-Tibet independence groups have threatened to hold protests around the torch relay.
One successful stunt was staged near Everest in April last year when five Americans with Students for a Free Tibet were expelled from China after calling for Tibetan independence during a demonstration at the mountain's base camp.
In a sign of the current sensitivities, Nepal announced on Friday that it would block access to Mount Everest from its side of the border to prevent pro-Tibetan protests while China took the torch to Everest.
Nepal's tourism minister, Prithvi Subba Gurung, said expeditions would be banned from May 1-10, following requests from Chinese authorities.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
