Tibetan mountaineers have vowed all-out efforts to ensure the smooth movement of the torch relay for the upcoming Olympic Games, after Olympic organizers said the Tibet leg will go ahead as planned despite the recent riot in Lhasa.

"The more the Dalai clique tries to sabotage the Games and the torch relay, the more we should do in terms of the preparation and operation work," said Yin Xunping, an official with the Tibet mountaineering expedition that will participate in carrying the torch to the Mount Qomolangma (Everest) summit.

"We shall go all out to ensure the smooth movement of the torch relay. We must strengthen ethnic unity while hostile forces try to drive a wedge between ethnic groups," Yin said. The remarks were made at a meeting of the Tibet Sport Administration on Thursday afternoon.

Tibet sport officials criticized the Dalai-backed riot, saying that the Olympic Games were a dream of China and the Dalai clique would not be able to disrupt them.

Degyi Zhoiyar, head of the administration, urged all sport officials in Tibet to be clear-headed and prepared for a struggle against secessionist activities.

A handful of lawless people, chanting separatist slogans in downtown Lhasa, burned houses and shops, destroyed vehicles, killed 13 innocent people and seriously injured a dozen law-enforcement personnel on March 14.

Organizers of the Olympics said on Wednesday that the torch relay will go ahead as planned despite concerns over security in Tibet.

"We firmly believe that the government of the Tibet Autonomous Region will be able to ensure the stability of Tibet and also the smooth movement of the torch relay in Tibet," said Jiang Xiaoyu, the executive vice president for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.

The sacred flame will be lit in Greece on Monday and is scheduled to arrive in China on March 31 when a grand ceremony will be held at the Beijing Tian'anmen Square.

The 137,000-kilometer relay will cover 134 cities on five continents starting on April 1 and ending on Aug. 8 at the main Olympic stadium in Beijing.

The highlight of the relay, involving 21,780 torchbearers, will be an attempt to take the Olympic flame to the summit of Mount Qomolangma in May.

(Xinhua News Agency March 21, 2008)