Taiwan’s inclusion in the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games relay route ahead of Hong Kong has angered Taiwanese officials. The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) said in a statement it was “an attempt by China to engineer the relay route so that Chinese Taipei is included in China’s domestic relay route…we absolutely reject this”.
Taiwan said it had informed Beijing this week it would not accept a place on the torch relay route if the flame entered or existed the island via Mainland China, Hong Kong, or Macau, which are Special Administrative Regions ruled by Beijing.
A Taipei government information office statement reportedly accused China of “unceasing, undisguised attempts to demean Taiwan on many occasions in the lead up to the Olympic Games”, and said if the relay goes to the island “it must be done with respect for our nation’s sovereignty”.
Tsai Chen-Wei, CTOC chairman, told a news conference “we solemnly state that we cannot accept this route”. He said “letting the torch go from Taiwan to Hong Kong and Macau shows Beijing’s attempt to make Taiwan look like a territory. This is unacceptable. We will lodge a strong protest with the Beijing Olympic Games organizing committee and the IOC”, he said. He added they would reconsider if the route were altered.
He also protested China forcing Taiwan to attend international sports events using the name of Chinese-Taipei instead of Taiwan.
Meawhile Hau Lung-bin, Mayor of Taipei said, “we don’t want any hypothetical situation stopping the torch relay, giving Taiwan a bad reputation of political interference in sports”.
He said, “we are ready for it. We will take the Olympic torch to the top of the world’s tallest building, the Taipei 101 and let the world know Taipei”.
