By Tham Choy Lin, NNN-Bernama
Beijing : The Tibet leg of the Olympic Torch Relay is to proceed as planned despite last week’s deadly riots in Lhasa, Beijing Olympic Games organisers say .
The flames for the opening of the Games in August will be lit on Monday in Greece, and arrive in Beijing on March 31 after a six-day relay before embarking on the international circuit and back to China for the domestic run.
Tibet has come under attention because of last Friday’s unrest in which the government said 13 civilians were killed and also, it is where the games’ flames will ascend the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest, for the first time.
Beijing Olympic Games Organizing Committee (BOCOG) executive vice-president Jiang Xiaoyu told a news conference here Wednesday that the Tibet leg would proceed as planned and that Tibetan local authorities would ensure its success.
“However, in the event of weather conditions or other incidents, we are able to change the routes or cancel the relays in certain cities,” he said when asked about the safety of the torch bearers through Tibet and sensitive northwestern regions of Xinjiang, Gansu and Qinghai.
Jiang said the situation in Lhasa had stabilized, as stated by Premier Wen Jiabao Tuesday.
The torch is scheduled to be in Tibet for two days, in Shannan Diqu on June 19 and Lhasa on June 20.
Jiang acknowledged that BOCOG was informed of attempts by some groups or individuals to sabotage the torch relay along its international stops, but said such threats were “doomed to failure”.
“Such disturbances or disruption are totally against the Olympic spirit and Olympic Charter and people around the world who love peace and friendship,” he said.
He said the run-up to the torch relay, the longest in history, were proceeding smoothly.
On the possibility of a boycott of the opening ceremony, Jiang believed it was a decision of “a few people” and he was confident that the majority would turn up for the event.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said the European Union should consider boycotting the opening ceremony if violence continued in Tibet.
The torch relay is scheduled to last 130 days and cover 137,000 km with 20,000 flame bearers. After its arrival in Beijing on March 31, the torch will be carried to 21 cities outside China, including Kuala Lumpur, between April 1 and May 3, before returning to the Chinese mainland for the domestic leg.
In China, the flames will be transported by horse, ship and train for the flames to travel through 113 cities before the final journey into the spanking new National Stadium, otherwise known as the Bird’s Nest, to light the cauldron during the Games’ opening ceremony on Aug 8.