BEIJING (AFP) - - Chinese climbers carrying the Olympic flame reached the summit of Mount Everest on Thursday, state television showed, in an historic moment for China exactly three months ahead of the Beijing Games.

Tibetan female climber Cering Wangmo reached the top of the world's highest mountain bearing a special extreme-altitude torch, triggering celebrations in China but further criticism from Tibetan activists.

"Beijing welcomes you!" joyous team members said as they stood at the 8,848-metre (29,028-foot) summit, with the event broadcast on national television.

Others shouted: "We are on top of the world!", and "One World, One Dream!", the official slogan of the Beijing Olympics.

The team halted just four metres below the summit to light the torch, with five climbers then relaying it the final metres to the top, where others had already gathered to unfurl small banners showing the Olympic rings.

The team had set out six hours earlier for a final push to the peak in an event that had been delayed for about two weeks due to adverse weather.

Taking the torch to Mount Everest was the most ambitious part of what has become the longest and most controversial Olympic torch relay in history .

From the moment the flame was ignited in Olympia, Greece, on March 24, the torch's global journey has been dogged by protests focused on China's rule of Tibet, its human rights record and alliance with Sudan's government.

The plan to take a specially-adapted torch up Everest became particularly controversial after the communist government cracked down on unrest in Tibet that began in March with protests against Chinese rule of the Himalayan region.

Tibet's government-in-exile says more than 200 people have been killed in the Chinese crackdown. China denies this and instead blames Tibetan "rioters" and "insurgents" for killing 21 people.

Because of the unrest, China deployed huge security teams for the flame's ascent, while climbing expeditions from both Everest's Tibetan and Nepalese sides were suspended to prevent any disturbances marring the summit attempt.

China has said it hopes the Everest leg of the relay will promote unity between Tibetans and the majority Han population of China.

But exiled Tibetan leaders and activist groups have said taking the torch through Tibet is a provocation that contradicts China's own admonition, voiced amid the protests during the overseas relay, not to politicise the Games.

"By taking the torch up the Tibetan side of Everest during the domestic Chinese leg of the torch relay, China is clearly attempting to underscore its baseless claims to sovereignty over Tibet," said Matt Whitticase, spokesman for the London-based Free Tibet Campaign.

"This is a clear politicisation of the Games by the host country itself."

The special Everest torch is different to the one that arrived on the Chinese mainland at the weekend after its month-long trip across five continents.

The main torch's three-month relay throughout China will culminate in Beijing with the lighting of the Olympic cauldron on August 8 to begin the Games.

It was in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Thursday, where the relay was delayed by a few hours so the focus would be solely on Everest.

The relay could face further controversy next month when it travels through Tibet and the neighbouring Xinjiang region, whose Muslim population have also expressed resentment against what they say is repressive Chinese rule.

Besides the ongoing crackdown in Tibet, exiled leaders from Xinjiang say Chinese security forces are carrying out a massive crackdown there to head off any torch protests.