By Nick Mulvenney

EVEREST BASE CAMP, China (Reuters) – The Olympic flame reached the top of Mount Everest on Thursday, an emotional high for China and the crowning moment of a Beijing Games torch relay that was mired in anti-Chinese protests on its world tour.

“Long live Tibet!” and “Long live Beijing!”, the climbers, all wearing red, shouted joyously into a TV camera after unfurling the Chinese national flag, the Olympic flag and a flag bearing the Beijing Olympic logo.

Rights groups criticized the climb as politically motivated, saying China had used the torch to underline its claim to sovereignty over Tibet.

Anti-Chinese protesters caused serious disruption to some legs of the main torch relay on its journey around the world after deadly riots in the Tibetan capital, Lhasa, on March 14 and subsequent unrest in other Tibetan areas of China.

The ambitious project to take the torch to the Himalayan peak was cast as the highlight of the relay ahead of the Games, which starts in exactly three months’ time.

“We have realized a promise to the world and a dream of all the Chinese people,” base camp commander Li Zhixin told reporters after being mobbed by friends and colleagues.

Communist China has spent billions of dollars on staging the Olympics, eager to project the image of a modern and vibrant country. The protests in cities from Paris to Los Angeles have bruised Chinese pride and provoked a surge of nationalist sentiment.

EMOTIONS RUN HIGH  Continued…