The surprise appearance by Chinese President, Mr. Jiang Zemin, at last night's euphoric Olympic party in Beijing is evidence of the significance China attaches to yesterdays yesterday's decision to award it the world's greatest sporting prize.

A jubilant city literally held its breath as the International Olympic Committee, (IOC), vote was announced at around about 10 p.m., Chinese time. Minutes later, fireworks exploded in a colourful blaze over Beijing and tens of thousands gathered at Tiananmen Square for an impromptu victory party.

The Avenue of Eternal Peace was jammed with honking cars crawling towards Tiananmen in a carnival atmosphere. Delirious passengers waved red flags hung out of taxi windows and doors, yelling and singing the national anthem.

In a rare moment of spontaneity, Mr. Jiang joined the crowds to savour the moment. He was joined by other top leaders, including the Chinese Premier, Mr Zhu Rongji, at the Millennium Monument in the west of the city.

President Jiang expressed his warm congratulations to the Beijing bid committee and called for concerted efforts by the whole nation and citizens of the capital to make a success of the 2008 Olympic Games.

Victory for Beijing was sweet after its disappointment eight years ago when it was beaten by Sydney by just two votes in the race to host the 2000 Games. This time there was no doubt with Beijing winning by a wide margin over Toronto, despite international criticism of its human rights record.

The vote was an important milestone for China in its efforts to achieve respectability and acceptance on the world stage as a major, modern power. It will also bolster China's "opening up and reform" policy which has changed the country beyond recognition over the last twenty 20 years.

Support for the Games was overwhelming. State Television repeatedly flashed "We've Won" in huge red characters on its eleven 11 channels. In living rooms and dormitories, bars and restaurants, Beijing residents huddled around televisions sets and radios to follow the voting in Moscow.

However, the build-up to decision day was a lot less exuberant than in 1993. Then, the official media engaged in a campaign of euphoric propaganda that convinced many Chinese they had the 2000 Games all sewn up at a time when Beijing was desperate to claw back international acceptance after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.

A more sober tone in the media this time was also designed to protect Chinese leaders from the embarrassment of another failure.

Immediately after the announcement, Chinese officials promised to work on improving its human rights record in the run up to the Olympics.

The secretary general of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee, MrWang Wei, said: "Our efforts have paid off. The world has come to understand Beijing and China better. If we build more bridges, I think we can resolve our differences." "There's a lot of hard work to do but I am confident we can hold an excellent Games. I think the world will come to understand us a lot better."

One of the thousands who watched the results of the Moscow vote live on a giant TV screen in the Millennium Monument, Zu Danliang, said the result meant the world now recognised China.

"This will give a big boost to the economy -- and a boost to the character of our people," he said as blue laser beams shot up into the night sky.

After the vote, a Taiwan government spokesman called on China to abandon the use of force in both the Taiwan Strait and the Asia-Pacific region in the pursuit of world peace.

The human rights group, Amnesty International, which has criticised China consistently for its use of the death penalty and alleged persecution of religious and ethnic groups and labour activists quickly sounded a cautionary voice.

"The Chinese government must prove it is worthy of staging the Games by upholding the Olympic spirit of fair play and extending respect for universal, fundamental, ethical principles to the people of China," Amnesty said in a statement released in London.

Amnesty said Chinese authorities had executed more people in the past three months than the rest of the world put together in the last three years.

It estimated that 1,700 alleged criminals had been put to death since April.

"Ironically, sports stadiums were the last places where many of those condemned to death were taken, to be subjected to ritual public humiliation in front of large crowds, just before being executed," Amnesty said.

In Washington, the White House was non-committal about the International Olympic Committee's (IOC)decision, but said American athletes would compete in Beijing.

"I think that we understand that this was a decision for the IOC to take," said U.S. national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. "As we've said, this was an IOC decision, it's now been made.

The decision was strongly criticised by the Dalai Lama's Tibetan government-in-exile, which claimed it would encourage repression in China.

"We deeply regret that Beijing is awarded the 2008 Olympic Games," a spokesman for the India-based Central Tibetan Administration, Mr Kalon T.C. Tethong, said in a statement. "This will put the stamp of international approval for Beijing's human rights abuses and will encourage China to escalate its repression."