The International Olympic Committee will not intervene to pressure China on Tibet or other political issues in the countdown to the Beijing Games.

IOC president Jacques Rogge reiterated that stance Friday, saying it was not up to the Olympic body to get involved in the host country’s political affairs.

“This is the line we do not have to cross,” he said at the close of a two-day IOC executive board meeting in the Chinese capital.

China’s recent crackdown in Tibet has fueled protests that have disrupted the global torch relay for the Beijing Games. Rogge has expressed hope for a peaceful resolution of the turmoil in the Himalayan region. But he said Thursday that he would not press China to open talks on Tibet, calling that a “political matter in which the IOC cannot enter.”

“This is a sovereign matter for China to decide,” he added.

Rogge, who met Wednesday with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, described the talks as “very useful ... frank and open and candid.”

“The IOC expressed its view to the prime minister concerning the preparation of the Olympic Games,” he said. “It was definitely a good meeting for the outcome of the preparation of the Olympic Games.”

Also Friday, China expressed indignation at a U.S. congressional resolution calling on Beijing to stop cracking down on Tibetan dissent and talk to the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu labeled the resolution passed Wednesday by the House of Representatives anti-Chinese, saying it “twisted Tibet’s history and modern reality ... seriously hurting the feelings of the Chinese people.”

“The Chinese side expresses its strong indignation and resolute opposition toward this,” Jiang said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site.

The resolution sponsored by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Beijing to “end its crackdown on nonviolent Tibetan protesters,” along with cultural, religious, economic and linguistic “repression.”

In Tibet, the recent demonstrations against 50 years of Chinese rule have been the largest and most sustained in almost two decades. The Dalai Lama said he has always supported China’s hosting of the Olympics, but Beijing cannot suppress protests in Tibet with violence.

Despite the torch protests, the Olympic relay will go through Tibet as planned, Rogge said. The flame is scheduled to be taken to the summit of Mount Everest in May and return in June to the Tibetan capital of Lhasa.

“We have agreed to a route for the torch that goes through Tibet,” Rogge said. “This is a position that the IOC confirmed yesterday.”

Rogge appeared more upbeat than on Thursday, when he declared the Olympics were in “crisis” because of the torch relay disruptions and politically charged buildup to the Aug. 8-24 games.