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BEIJING : China said on Tuesday that protesters were out to hijack the Olympic Games as the torch relay embarked on a world tour that is certain to ignite demonstrations.
Pro-Tibet activists, human rights campaigners and groups seeking to end the crisis in Darfur say they plan protests during the relay, which is scheduled to last 130 days and cover 137,000 kilometres.
"No plot to hijack the Beijing Olympics deserves the moral high ground it claims," the official China Daily said Tuesday in an editorial.
China maintains that protesters are attempting to politicise the August 8-24 Olympics and that they are doomed to fail, claiming most people around the world are opposed to linking controversies with the showpiece events.
The demonstrations run counter to the Olympic spirit of peace, friendship and respect, the China Daily said.
"Sensational as they are, the calls to politicise the Olympics are a blasphemy against the Olympic spirit," the editorial added.
The Chinese foreign ministry also hit out at groups and individuals calling for protests and a boycott of the Olympics.
"If there is any disruption of the torch relay, it is a provocation against the charters of the Olympic Games and a challenge to all people who love peace and the Olympic spirit," foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
"We will join hands with all countries to ensure the smooth relay of the torch around the world."
She was speaking as the torch made its way from Beijing to Almaty, Kazakhstan, for the first leg of its global journey.
Rights groups have said they will focus protests on the London leg on Sunday, Paris on Monday and San Francisco, the only stop in the United States, next Wednesday, April 9.
One rallying cry for protesters is Tibet, whose exiled leaders say up to 140 people have died in a crackdown in more than three weeks of unrest and protests against Chinese rule of the Himalayan region.
China denies any people have died in the crackdown, and instead says that Tibetan rioters killed 18 innocent civilians and two policemen.
Chinese police also said on Tuesday that Tibetans were planning suicide attacks as part of a stepped-up campaign for independence ahead of the Beijing Olympics.
"To our knowledge, the next plan of the Tibetan independence forces is to organise suicide squads to launch violent attacks," Chinese public security ministry spokesman Wu Heping said.
Wu did not say whether the alleged suicide bomb plots were directed against specific targets, such as the torch relay, nor did he give any evidence to back up the claims.
The United States on Tuesday rejected any suggestion the Dalai Lama would sanction suicide attacks.
"No. That's the simple answer. Look, the Dalai Lama is a man of peace," State Department deputy spokesman Tom Casey told reporters when asked about the allegations.
The torch relay, billed as the most ambitious of all time, will include an ascent of Mount Everest in May and a leg in Tibet in June.
Officials in Beijing and Tibet have previously said they would prevent any security breaches for the legs in the Himalayan region.
"To our knowledge, some separatists from within and outside China are seeking to sabotage the Olympic torch relay within Tibet," Baema Chilain, vice- chairman of the Tibetan regional government, told Chinese reporters last week.
"We are confident and capable of ensuring the security of the relay and taking it to the top of the peak."
But outside China the situation has already proved different. Last week, protesters defied tight security to disrupt the torch-lighting ceremony in Ancient Olympia.
China branded the protests in Greece "shameful" and has put pressure on cities along the international route to ensure smooth progress of the torch.
On Monday China staged an elaborate ceremony for the torch relay in central Tiananmen Square attended by top leaders including President Hu Jintao. The flame had arrived in Beijing earlier Monday from Greece. - AFP/de
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