Liu Jingmin, executive vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Games, told Reuters he hoped the spirit of Olympic cooperation would allow the torch relay to cross Taiwan in spite of tension with independence-minded leaders on the island which China regards as its own.

Liu said Beijing was investigating how to haul the torch to the summit of Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain at 8,850 metres (29,035 ft), and broadcast the ascent live around the globe.

"We have organised a research team and they are assessing it. It depends on the weather at the time and on when it will happen," said Liu, who is also vice mayor of Beijing.

China was scheduled to submit a route plan for the relay to the International Olympic Committee by the end of 2006.

The relay of the "flame of peace" has become a spectacle. Ahead of the Athens Games in 2004, it circled the world on a six-week tour under tight security, flying from country to country in a specially chartered jumbo dubbed Zeus.

Logistically, taking the flame to the highest point on Earth was not a big problem, Liu said.

"Going up may not be too complicated, but filming the whole thing will be very complex," he said.

In 1999, China took a ceremonial flame to the top of Everest, which straddles the China-Nepal border, during a sports competition among China's ethnic minorities.

That torch was outfitted with a special oxygen tank to keep it burning in the thin air and an igniter to re-light the flame when gusting winds blew it out, but the experience showed it could be done.

"The torch is not a problem," Liu said.

Broadcasting the images live is another story, though.

In 2003, China's state-run broadcaster showed live footage of climbers reaching the peak using a portable microwave transmitter to send a signal to a satellite ground station.

The cost of transporting the gear up just the middle reaches on yaks was 200,000 yuan, Xinhua news agency reported.

Liu said no decision had yet been made about who would carry the torch up the mountain, but he noted that most torch bearers in the past had been local.

"Not everyone can climb Everest," he added.

"In Nepal there is an ethnic group for whom climbing Mount Everest is as easy as eating breakfast. Maybe we'll go up with them."

Liu said China hoped the flame could pass through Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.

"We hope it goes there," he said. "Taipei has given Beijing a lot of support in our application for and preparations for the Olympics, so of course we can enjoy this honour with the Taiwanese people."