A handful of "Tibetan independence"-seeking separatists are trying to undermine stability in China and sabotage the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games, but their goals are unacceptable and doomed to failure, Li Zhaoxing, honorary president of the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, said on Tuesday.

Li, who is also a former Chinese foreign minister, delivered a keynote speech at a two-day international conference on China's three decades of economic reform at Cambridge University, England.

He told the 200 attendees there was sufficient evidence to prove the March 14 riot in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region, was a political event planned and organized by violent criminals and had nothing to do with human rights or ethnicity.

He said the Chinese government's measures to quell the riots were lawful and were supported by more than 110 countries and international organizations.

"In many countries, including Britain, religion and politics are separate," Li said.

"It is hard to imagine what reaction the British people would have if their bishop interfered in politics."

He said that in the 13th century, during the Yuan Dynasty, Tibet became an inalienable part of China.

Since then, the Tibet issue has been China's internal affair.

Over recent decades, the central government and local governments have spared no effort in helping Tibet develop its economy and have also paid great respect to local cultural traditions and religious beliefs, Li said.

(Xinhua News Agency April 4, 2008)