BEIJING, March 18: Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said Tuesday that protesters in Tibet are intent on undermining the Beijing Summer Olympics.

Speaking on the final day of China’s annual legislative session, Wen said the protests went against the wish of the Chinese people to stage a successful Olympics in August.

His comments came a day after the United States and European Olympic bodies said they opposed any boycott of the Olympics because of China’s crack down on the protests.

“The Beijing Olympics will be a grand gathering for people from around the world,” Wen said. “We need to respect the principles of the Olympics and the Olympic charter and we should not politicize the games.”

Several days of anti-Chinese riots in Tibet’s capital have focused attention on China’s human rights record with the games fewer than five months away. A smooth run-up to the Olympics has also been marred by health concerns about Beijing’s noxious air.

The International Olympic Committee’s top medical official, Arne Ljungqvist, acknowledged Monday that athletes in outdoor endurance events could face some “risks” from pollution and termed the air quality “less than ideal.”

He said, however, that conditions were better than expected following an evaluation done by four unnamed experts. Ljungqvist’s comments on a conference call from Sweden came during a 24-hour span in which a thick, gray haze blanketed the city and gusting winds blew sand and grit from the city’s myriad construction sites.

Wen called the Olympics a “dream shared by people of many generations in this country.’ He also acknowledged he is bracing for more problems.

“I would also like to point out that China is not a developed country,” he said. “In the process of the Olympic Games it is inevitable that we will encounter problems of this or that sort.”

European Olympic officials meeting Monday in Slovenia said the violence in Tibet was no reason to boycott the games.

“Under no circumstance will we support the boycott. We are 100 percent unanimous,” said Patrick Hickey, the head of the European Olympic Committees.

“Not one world leader has come out with the suggestion of a boycott and no less a person than the Dalai Lama” is against it,” Hickey added.—AP