Taipei - The Taiwan government on Thursday rejected being included in the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch relay, saying the relay stop arrangement signifies Taiwan as part of China.
Students play basket ball at a Taipei high school, 26 April 2007. The International Olympic Committee unveiled the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games torch relay route, saying the torch would go from Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to Taipei before going to Hong Kong, Macau and China, but Taiwan rejected the arrangement, saying it implied Taiwan is part of China. EPA/DAVID CHANG
'Letting the torch go from Taiwan directly to Hong Kong and Macau is belittling Taiwan (to the status of a Chinese province)' Vice President Annette Lu told reporters.
'We hope there can be a better arrangement, like letting the torch come come Vietnam but go to Seoul or Tokyo after leaving Taiwan,' she said after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) unveiled the torch route in Beijing.
Taiwan's Olympic committee, the Chinese-Taipei Olympic Committee, also condemned the torch relay arrangement, calling it 'the worst possible route.'
'Liu Qi, chairman of the Beijing Olympic Games organizing committee, showed us this arrangement in March 2006 and we rejected it because it makes Taiwan a stop on the domestic leg of the torch relay,' Tsai Chen-wei, chairman of Taiwan's Olympic committee, told a news conference.
'We will lodge a strong protest with the Beijing Olympic Games organizing committee and IOC,' he said.
Tsai also protested China forcing Taiwan to attend international sports events under the name of Chinese-Taipei instead of Taiwan.
Taiwan and China have been split since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign country currently recognized by 24 countries, but Beijing claims Taiwan is a breakaway province awaiting reunification with the mainland.
Since Taiwan lost its United Nations seat to China in 1971, Taiwan has also lost membership in most international organizations, including the IOC, but China has allowed Taiwan to join international sports events under the name of Chinese-Taipei, a name Taiwan finds insulting as it implies Taiwan is part of China.
Since 1949, Taiwan has banned all formal contacts with China, but has in recent years resumed sports contacts with China under the IOC framework.
For the Beijing Olympic Games, China hopes to let the torch pass through Taiwan to bring Taiwan closer to China, but Taiwan sees political motives behind the move.
Taiwan has insisted that they should not be a stop on the China- leg of the torch relay, but should be a stop on the international leg of the relay.
Taipei suggested the torch come from a third country and after leaving Taiwan, go to a third country before entering China.
But under the plans unveiled Thursday, the torch would end its 20- nation leg in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City to enter Taiwan, and pass through Hong Kong and Macau before entering mainland China.
Though Hong Kong is a separate IOC member, Taiwan still sees Hong Kong as part of China, thus rejecting the torch relay.
The Taiwan public is divided over the torch relay issue, with some people welcoming it while others blasting China's claim of sovereignty over Taiwan.
'We deeply regret the government's rejection of the Olympic torch. The torch relay is a much sought-after thing. We hope our government should stop mixing sports with politics,' the pro-unification Chinese Nationalist Party said.
Some Taiwanese sports officials and athletes also criticized the government decision, saying sports should not be politicized.
'The torch relay is the curtain raiser for the Olympic games and is a very simple issue. If Taiwan does not want to join that, maybe Taiwan should withdraw from Olympic sports events altogether and isolate itself,' Wu Ching-kuo, the Taiwanese member of the IOC, told reporters in Beijing.
Chih Cheng, a veteran track and field athlete, said sports is simple but politics is dirty.
'To us athletes, the Olympic torch relay is a holy thing. I hope Taiwan can participate in the torch relay,' she said on cable TV channel CTI.
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-pin also hopes the Olympic torch can come to Taipei. '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 world know Taipei,' he said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
Your Talkback on this Story