China unwilling to alter torch route, waiting for Taiwan

Apr 27, 2007, 12:10 GMT

Beijing/Taipei - China on Friday said it was unwilling to alter its planned route for the Olympic torch relay despite objections from Taiwan, state media said.

The Beijing organising committee (BOCOG) vice president Jiang Xiaoyu said China was 'surprised' by media reports that Taiwan had rejected the route and that, if confirmed by its Olympic committee, the rejection would 'violate the Olympic spirit' of keeping politics out of sport.

'We still hope the Taipei Olympic Committee and its supervision organisation could take the Taiwan compatriots' interests as a top priority and consider the overall situation,' the semi-official China News Service quoted Jiang as saying.

Because of the scale and importance of the Olympic event, Beijing had devised contingency plans but would not agree to any change that would mean a 'breach of commitment' by either side, he said.

'The Chinese nationality always has the tradition of keeping its commitments, so of course we will not agree to those activities that breach the commitment,' Jiang said

BOCOG only knew of Taiwan's rejection of its planned route through the media and was still waiting for a formal response, he said.

'We still think the Taipei Olympic Committee could observe this torch plan that was reached before,' the agency quoted Jiang as saying.

Jiang's remarks appeared to contradict reports in Taiwanese media quoting him as saying Beijing could still be willing to discuss the route of the relay.

The United Daily News quoted Jiang as saying that Beijing would 'continue consultations' over the route.

'What we announced is the planned torch relay route, so BOCOG will keep the torch relay route flexible and will continue consultations with the Chinese-Taipei Olympic Committee,' the newspaper quoted him as saying.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) unveiled the route for the Beijing Olympic Games' torch relay Thursday evening in Beijing.

Under the arrangement, the Olympic flame would leave Beijing and pass through 22 overseas cities and 113 Chinese cities and regions before returning to Beijing. Taipei would be the 21st stop, behind Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City and before Hong Kong and Macau.

After Macau, the torch would be passed along the interior route of China, which covers 113 cities and regions including Mount Everest.

Although Taiwan sports officials had hinted that Taipei could accept the third country-Taiwan-Hong Kong route, the Taiwan government on Thursday rejected the Vietnam-Taiwan-Hong Kong route, saying it implied Taiwan was part of China and demanded a third country-Taiwan-third country route.

Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu accused China of plotting to undermine Taiwan's sovereignty by arranging for the Olympic torch to go from Taipei to Hong Kong.

'Taiwan must make greater effort to see if the Olympic torch can go to Tokyo or Seoul after leaving Taiwan,' she said.

However, some Taiwan athletes and members of the public welcomed the Olympic torch relay because it is a rare chance for Taiwan to participate in Olympic Games.

The Olympic flame has come to Taiwan only once - in 1964 for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Wu Ching-kuo, the Taiwanese member of the IOC, criticized the Taiwan government for rejecting the Olympic torch relay, calling it a 'very, very serious international incident,' warning it would hurt Taiwan's status in the IOC.

Taiwan and China split at the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state currently recognized by 24 countries, but China claims Taiwan as a breakaway province awaiting reunification with the mainland.

Both China and Taiwan are IOC members, but China has forced Taiwan to use the name Chinese-Taipei, implying Taiwan is part of China.