Human rights activists plan to disrupt China’s “journey of harmony” as the Olympic torch is taken around the world before the Beijing Games this summer.

The presence of protesters along the 85,000-mile route through 20 cities across the continents is part of a campaign by human rights groups to use the Olympics to focus international attention on China’s role in Darfur. It follows the withdrawal of Steven Spielberg, the Hollywood director, as artistic director of the Games on the ground that China had failed to use its influence to end the humanitarian crisis in Sudan.

Mr Spielberg had been invited to act as an artistic consultant for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Games. However, on Tuesday night he put out a statement saying: “I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual. My time and energy must be spent not on Olympic ceremonies but on doing all I can to help bring an end to the unspeakable crimes against humanity that continue to be committed in Darfur.”

In its first response, China yesterday voiced “regret” at his decision but lashed out at those it accused of “ulterior motives”. Liu Jianchao, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, said: “We hope not to see such a major event anticipated by the whole world disturbed by political issues. This is not in line with the Olympic spirit.”

Mr Liu said: “It is understandable if some people do not understand the Chinese government policy on Darfur, but I am afraid that some people may have ulterior motives, and this we cannot accept.”

China commonly makes reference to “ulterior motives” as a term to describe people it considers to be operating with the purpose of doing it harm.

The plan to disrupt the torch route will cause further consternation to Chinese officials, who consider it “one of the grand ceremonies for the Beijing Olympic Games”. As these protests will be held outside the country, China will be powerless to stop them.

Dream for Darfur, a US-based lobby group linked to the actress Mia Farrow, will start its rally in Ancient Olympia in Greece next month where the Olympic flame begins its 130-day journey from the last host city to the next one in Beijing. Further protests are planned in London, Paris, San Francisco and Hong Kong.

“The thing that bothers the Chinese the most is the idea of demonstrations.

So we are planning a series of demonstrations starting in Athens,” Jill Savitt, executive director of Dream for Darfur, said. “We hope the protests will follow the flame around the world as momentum gathers.”

Announced amid great fanfare last April, the torch relay, along the historic Silk Route, up the world’s highest peak and to the world beyond had been billed as China’s first opportunity to “enhance mutual understanding and friendship among people of different countries”. Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, described the relay as a “journey of harmony bringing friendship and respect to people of different nationalities, races and creeds”.

The torch, 72cm-high (2ft 4in), designed to withstand wind and rain, will arrive in Beijing for the opening ceremony on August 8.

It will pass through London in in the first week of April. Organisers of the 2012 London Games plan to use the event to promote interest in their own Games and test the local appetite for the Olympics. The flame is to be carried through the city by 80 torchbearers, the last of whom will light a cauldron.

The London Organising Committee has said it is not concerned that any politicisation of the Beijing Games might have a longer-term detrimental effect. “The Olympic Games can become a platform for protests but it has always transcended every protest or boycott and we are confident that London 2012 will be no different,” a spokeswoman said.

Within China itself, where most provinces will receive the Olympic flame on its travels, there is unlikely to be any negative reaction amid a media blackout of the Darfur controversy.

Yesterday a lone Chinese newspaper reported Mr Spielberg’s protest withdrawal.

The Global Times, a current affairs tabloid run by the Communist Party’s People’s Daily, said: “Western exploitation of the Olympics to pressure China immediately provoked much disgust among ordinary Chinese people. The vast majority of Chinese people have expressed bafflement and outrage at the Western pressure. In their view, it’s absolutely absurd to place the Darfur issue, so many thousands of miles away, on the head of China.”

China is believed to be able to wield special influence with the government in Sudan because it buys some 40 per cent of the country’s oil exports while selling it weapons and defending Khar-toum in the UN Security Council.

Ms Farrow tried this week to deliver to the Chinese mission to the United Nations a letter signed by a group of Nobel Peace laureates including Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi, Elie Wiesel and Bishop Carlos Belo as well as politicians, Olympic medallists and entertainers.

Zhu Jing, a spokeswoman for the Beijing Olympics organising committee , said: “Linking the Darfur issue to the Olympic Games will not help to resolve this issue and is not in line with the Olympic spirit that separates sports from politics.”

The Chinese public, in internet comments, have rallied around the Games.

Times Recommends

• Air crash: ‘Everything is burnt. It is the closest thing to Hell’
• The true story of a passionate Korean 'spy'
• I shot Lennon in the back, Chapman tells parole board