Olympics: China row scuppers torch's Taiwan leg

TAIPEI: The Olympic torch for the 2008 Beijing Games will bypass Taiwan after the collapse of talks between the island and China over hosting a leg of the relay, officials here said Friday.   

Negotiations broke down over the sensitive issue of which flags, emblems and songs to use on the island, which China regards as part of Chinese territory awaiting reunification and not as an independent nation.   

A deadline imposed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to resolve the issue passed Friday morning.   

"The Olympic torch will not come to Taiwan because the two sides were not able to reach consensus over the arrangement of the relay after more than one month of discussions," said Yang Jong-her, Taiwan's sports minister. "We deeply regret the result," he added.   

China expressed regret at the outcome of the talks.   

"The Taiwan authorities have violated the regulations of the 'Olympic Charter' and made great efforts to politicise the Olympic torch relay in Taiwan ... this has set an ugly precedent," BOCOG (the Beijing Organising Committee of the Olympic Games) said in a statement on its website.   

Government spokesman Shieh Jhy-wey, defending the island's position, said Taiwan was "the first country which says 'no' to an authoritarian regime over the Olympic torch relay. Freedom and human rights of Taiwanese people are more sacred then the Olympic flames."   

Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian said: "This is really disappointing. We cannot accept their demand."   

But chairman Chen Ming-tong of Taiwan's mainland affairs council, which handles cross-strait relations, said both sides had made concessions and the failure of the torch negotiations should not affect future bilateral talks on other issues.    ]

"Their demand was unacceptable since it downgrades Taiwan's status," Chen said.   

Chinese Olympic organisers had demanded that only flags, emblems and songs approved by the IOC should be used in the Taiwan relay.   

Taiwan and China split in 1949 but Taipei cannot use its national flags, insignia or songs at IOC events or other international sports competitions.   

"Our committee of course will follow IOC rules, but how can we control the people? It is a free country here and the people can use whatever they like to welcome the torch," Tsai Chen-wei, the chairman of Taiwan's Olympic Committee, said.   

Tsai, Taiwan's chief torch relay negotiator, and Yang said Beijing had insisted on adding restrictions just a day before an agreement was due to be signed in early September.   

"We had been actively seeking to welcome the torch in a carnival-like event... but the Chinese side in the last minute unexpectedly asked to add barriers," Yang said.   

"It is a clear fact that China, even in sports activities, is suppressing Taiwan and downgrading Taiwan," the minister added.   

But Yang said Taiwan would still participate in the 2008 Olympic Games in a spirit of sportsmanship.    Opposition leader and presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou, who had pledged to wave Taiwan's national flag at the relay, expressed 'deep regret' that Taipei would not be involved.   

"The torch is highly symbolic. Its coming here means Taiwan is on the track in the international community. Both Beijing and Taipei were hurt in the torch battle. As the hosting country, China could have been more open-minded," Ma said.   

Taiwan had called the proposed route for the torch relay - from Taipei to Hong Kong to Macau to China - a challenge to its national sovereignty.   

It also accused China of claiming the torch's arrival in Taipei would mark the beginning of the 'domestic' part of the relay.   

In earlier negotiations China had agreed to categorise Taipei as one of the relay's 22 'outside' stops and to identify Taiwan by its IOC name, 'Chinese Taipei,' rather than 'Taipei, China.'