AP News, June 23rd, 2007
If Taiwan is to participate in the 2008 Olympic torch relay, it will be on Beijing's terms.
Beijing Olympic organizers, embarrassed two months ago when Taiwan backed out of participating in the relay because of a dispute over the route, gave no hint Saturday they would negotiate with Taiwan over the politically sensitive issue.
"I think I've made my point very clear," Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the Beijing organizing committee, said Saturday when he announced official numbers for the torch relay.
The route proposed by Beijing organizers has the torch arriving in Taiwan from Vietnam on April 30, 2008, and going on to China-controlled Hong Kong and Macau. Many in Taiwan have pushed for a route that takes the torch through Taiwan via Asian countries other than China.
The self-governing island, which broke away from China in 1949, hopes to use the relay to bolster its claim for independence. China has pledged to take the torch through every part of the country, and skipping Taiwan would suggest the island is not part of China.
"The April 26 route was agreed to by Beijing organizers and the Taipei Olympic Committee," Jiang added. "This is a written agreement and jointly agreed to. And the route was approved by the International Olympic Committee. We hope that the Taipei Olympic Committee and related Taiwan authorities can return to this previously arrived at agreement and return to our written agreement."
There was not immediate reaction from Taiwan.
Officials said 21,880 torchbearers would participate worldwide in the relay, the largest in Olympic history. Of the total, 19,400 will cover the routes in mainland China. Beijing is allocated 624 torchbearer spots, with 120 for Taiwan.
The 85,000-mile route will take 130 days to complete, cross five continents and reach the summit of Mount Everest.
As with all Olympics, next year's relay will begin in Greece on March 25. After circling Greece, it arrives in Beijing on March 31.
After this, it winds across Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa and then back to Asia and China before the torch ignites the cauldron at the opening ceremony on Aug. 8, 2008, in Beijing's 91,000-seat National Stadium.
