Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao dismissed calls for a boycott of the Olympics after a crackdown on riots in Tibet, saying the Games should not be politicised.

Wen said the unrest in the Himalayan region had been incited with the aim of sabotaging the August 8-24 Games and China was genuine in its desire to host a successful Olympics.

"We need to respect the principles of the Olympics and the Olympic charter. That is, we should not politicise the Olympic Games," Wen said on Tuesday.

"In fact, you the reporter can see the essence of the incident that recently occurred in Tibet. They wanted to incite the sabotage of the Olympic Games in order to achieve their unspeakable goal."

Wen accused exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, of orchestrating the riots that erupted in Lhasa before spreading to other provinces last week, leaving dozens dead.

The Dalai Lama and his supporters in exile have consistently denied that they were behind the violence.

Hollywood actor Richard Gere, chairman of the International Campaign for Tibet, has said his personal view was that it would be "unconscionable" to attend the Beijing Games if China failed to deal peacefully with the unrest in Tibet.

But International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge said on Monday no governments had called for a boycott of the Olympics over Tibet.

The United States, which led a major boycott of the 1980 Moscow Games over the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, has no plans to stop its athletes from going to Beijing, the United States Olympic Committee said on Monday.

Wen denied accusations China had embarked on a crackdown on dissent in the run-up to the Games.

"As for the critics' view that China is trying to increase its efforts to arrest dissidents ahead of the Olympic Games, I think all these accusations are unfounded," he said.

China has invested tens of billion of dollars and a large amount of prestige in the Games, which Beijing hopes will project an image of a united and prosperous society.

Wen said China's aim was to "host an even better Olympics, so that the athletes are happy and the people of the whole world are happy".

"But we're still not a developed country so in the work of preparing for the Olympic Games it's difficult for us to avoid all sorts of problems," he said.

"But the Chinese people are sincerely heartfelt in wanting to hold a successful Olympics."

Reuters