TAIWAN: OLYMPIC GAMES: Taiwan unhappy with the way their capital Taipei is included in the Olympic torch reIay route

Shortly after Beijing announced the route of Olympic Torch relay on Thursday (April 26, 2007), Taiwan immediately rejected as this is an unacceptable decision to undermine Taiwan's sovereignty. Beijing, on the other hand, sent a letter back saying it could not understand the decision, said Tsai Chen-wei, chair of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. According to China's official announcement, the Olympic Torch will enter Taipei from Hochiminh City then will go on to Hong Kong and Macau after exiting Taipei. Taiwan opposes this decision because the torch does not pass into and out of Taiwan via countries other than China, as Taiwan requested earlier. At a news conference jointly held by Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports Republic of China (Taiwan) on Thursday (April 26), Taiwan denounced that China's designating Taiwan under a "domestic route," purposely created the misimpression that Taiwan is a region under China's jurisdiction. "This is an attempt by China to engineer the relay route so that Chinese Taipei is included in China's domestic relay route, thereby obviously undermining our sovereign status," the Taipei Olympics committee and the national sports council (lower case) said in a statement. "We resolutely reject this." Tsai said all responsibility for consequences resulting from this arrangement will rest with Beijing. "The government's position is very clear. First is to ensure our sovereignty not being undermined, also, China must abide to the courtesy outlined by the International Olympic Committee," said Yang. Zhong-He, chair of national council on physical fitness and sports. Tsai said Taiwan would reconsider its rejection if Beijing changed the route.

ITN Source | April 27, 2007

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