Tibet to stay on Olympic torch route despite riots

By Nick Mulvenney and Lindsay Beck

BEIJING (Reuters) - China vowed on Wednesday to take the Olympic torch to Tibet despite deadly riots there and said it was in a "life or death struggle" over the Himalayan region with "the Dalai Lama clique".

In London, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Chinese Premier Wen Jiaobao had told him on Wednesday Wen was prepared to talk with Dalai Lama, the exiled leader of Tibetan Buddhists, under certain conditions.

"The premier told me that, subject to two things that the Dalia Lama has already said -- that he does not support the total independence of Tibet and that he renounces violence -- that he would be prepared to enter into dialogue with the Dalai Lama," Brown said.

Brown told parliament he would meet the Dalai Lama during a visit to Britain in May. China's foreign ministry said it was "seriously concerned" by Brown's statement.

Beijing and envoys of the Dalai Lama have been holding a slow-motion dialogue since 1979. The sixth round of contacts since 2002 ended in July last year without apparent progress.

The crackdown in Tibet and nearby provinces, following riots that may have killed dozens of people, have sparked calls for a boycott of the August Beijing Games that China wants to turn into a celebration of its emergence as a world power.

Tibetan activists want the Olympic torch relay to skip Tibet.

But Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games, told a news conference the relay would proceed as scheduled because the situation in Tibet has stabilised.