Five US citizens will be expelled from China after staging an illegal demonstration at Mount Everest base camp that was aimed at "splitting" the country, the Chinese foreign ministry said yesterday.
China has also lodged an official complaint with the US government over Wednesday's protest, in which the US protesters called for Tibetan independence and voiced outrage at Beijing's plan for the Olympic torch to pass through the Himalayan region next year.
"Upon discovering this activity, a border unit of China's public security bureau stopped the protest and according to ... relevant laws will expel these people outside of China," a foreign ministry statement said.
The statement clarified earlier comments by a ministry official who had said that the US citizens had already been kicked out of the country.
The protesters had unfurled banners demanding a "free Tibet" and slammed China's plans to take the Olympic torch to the top of Mount Everest ahead of the Beijing Games to be held next year, the US-based Students for a Free Tibet said.
Police immediately detained four of the protesters, while the fifth US citizen was apparently taken into custody later, as Chinese authorities had previously said that person had fled base camp.
Students for a Free Tibet, which organized the protest, said it was elated that the protesters would be released, but insisted that the group would continue to protest against China's oppressive policies there.
"We are overjoyed if it is true that the Chinese will release them," said Lhadon Tethong, a spokeswoman for the group, said from Kathmandu, the capital of neighboring Nepal.
"But the occupation of Tibet remains and we will continue to protest China's political use of the Olympics Games to legitimize their control of Tibet," she said.
The group said it feared that China would seek to whitewash widespread religious and cultural oppression in Tibet through its Olympic activities.
China has ruled Tibet since sending troops in to "liberate" the region in 1951 and has violently suppressed a number of uprisings since then.
The ministry statement said the Chinese government had lodged an official complaint with the US over the protest and demanded that Washington prevent similar incidents from occurring.
"Tibet is an inseparable part of China and the Chinese government and people will never tolerate any activity aimed at splitting China," the statement said.
"The United States should work to dispel the odious influence of this [protest] and prevent similar incidents from occurring," it said.
The protest came a day before the Beijing Olympic Games organizers formally announced plans to bring the Olympic torch to the top of the world's highest peak, while also sending the torch relay through Lhasa, which is the capital of Tibet.
US embassy officials in Beijing could not confirm that the US citizens would be expelled and refused to comment on the ministry statement.
On Thursday, the US said it was seeking consular access to those who had been detained, but it was not immediately clear if that had been granted.
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