Exiled Tibet assembly leader backs Beijing Olympics

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The Olympics should go ahead despite China's clampdown on protestors in Tibet, but be used to put pressure on Beijing, the speaker of the Himalayan region's parliament in exile said on Wednesday.

"The position of the Tibetan government in exile is clear and remains. The Olympics should go on and should take place in China," Karma Chophel told a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels.

"But we must use the Olympics to force China to conform with international rules."

Tibet's parliament in exile is based in Dharamsala, India, where the Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama heads a government in exile that he and his followers established after a failed uprising against communist rule in 1959.

Chophel is a close ally of the Dalai Lama, who has also previously backed China's hosting of the games.

China has come under international pressure over its handling of the unrest in Tibet including some calls to boycott the Beijing Games in August.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy urged China on Tuesday to show responsibility over the unrest in Tibet and refused to rule out boycotting the opening ceremony of the games.

He was speaking a day after human rights groups staged a brief protest at the Olympic torch-lighting ceremony in Greece, angered over the events in Tibet which China says has led to 19 deaths.

The Tibetan government in exile says 140 people have died in the riots.

(Reporting by Darren Ennis, editing by David Brunnstrom and Richard Meares)