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Human rights protests have Beijing's Olympic Game officials concerned about security for the international torch run, and the Indian leg of the run is in question.
A group of Tibetans stormed into China's embassy complex last Friday, and that has prompted calls for assurance of "foolproof protection for the event" as the flame journeys in India in April.
Calling off the Indian leg of the run has not be ruled out, a Times of India report said.
China took the breach of security at the embassy seriously and summoned Indian ambassador Nirupama Rao to the Foreign Office in Beijing in the middle of the night to register its concern.
The Chinese Embassy in New Delhi is in discussions with India's External Affairs Ministry and the Indian Olympic Committee about making sure security is tight, the Times reports. The torch gets to India on April 17 and will spend two days in the country.
The Chinese have not ruled out bypassing India, the report said.
Monday's start of the Olympic torch relay in Greece was hit by protesters demanding independence from Chinese rule for Tibet. One demonstrator, in a shirt stained with fake blood, lay down in the path of a torch runner. Other protesters brandished banners portraying the Olympic rings as handcuffs. Official news reports in China did not mention the protests.
The international relay is continuing -- Wednesday the flame was in the mountains of Northern Greece -- was the fire moves along against a background of politically-accented grumbles. No national governments or Olympic committees are leading a boycott of the Beijing Olympic Games, though doors have been left open for other forms of political statements. French president Nicolas Sarkozy said this week France doesn't indend to boycott the Games, though he personally could stay away from the opening ceremony.
Belgium, home country of International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge, is being cautious. Belgium's vice-premier, Didier Reynders, told France's Le Soir newspaper Wednesday that the country is not planning to boycott Beijing "but we can never exclude the worst."
Some statements have been much stronger, however. The Belgian regional sport minister in Flanders, Bert Anciaux, said definitively he will not attend the Games' August 8 opening ceremonies because he doesn't want his presence to be used as "propoganda" and support for the Chinese regime.
Daniel Cohn-Bendit, a Green member of the European Parliament and a leader of the 1968 French student uprising, said on France 2 television there should be "mayhem in Beijing" and called for a boycott of the opening by all European Union countries to protest the Chinese crackdown in Tibet.
"We have to make the Chinese Communists truly regret wanting to organise the Games," Cohn-Bendit said. He said athletes should wear orange armbands and headscarves to show solidarity with Tibet.
