Brown: 'I won't boycott Olympics'

LONDON, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said he does not plan to boycott August's Olympic opening ceremonies in Beijing or the torch relay in London this weekend.

"I think we've got to bear in mind that although there's a huge amount of controversy now surrounding the Olympics because of what's been happening in Tibet, the Dalai Lama himself has made it clear he doesn't want there to be a boycott of the Olympics," Brown told reporters at his monthly news conference.

"I think we've got to bear in mind the views around the world that the Olympics should go ahead as a sporting occasion."

The Olympic torch relay is scheduled to pass through London this Sunday on its way to the Olympics in Beijing, China, and Brown said he would be there to welcome it.

Brown said he would also attend the opening ceremonies for the Olympics because London was hosting the next summer games in 2012.

Questions about an Olympic boycott intensified last month after China began a crackdown on anti-Chinese demonstrators in Tibet.

Brown repeated his call for dialogue between the Chinese government and the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader.

"Surely the way forward is to seek that reconciliation and to facilitate that," Brown said.

Beijing has blamed the Dalai Lama and his followers for violence that erupted amid protests for Tibetan independence earlier this month, but China has drawn international criticism for its crackdown on the protests that began peacefully.

Last week, China offered some media organizations -- not including CNN -- a carefully managed tour of Tibet's capital, but ran into a public-relations roadblock when a group of Buddhist monks began screaming protests at a holy shrine. E-mail to a friend