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Using the torch in political games

The Olympic Charter states that politics and sport should be kept separate.

Yet China is claiming to be surprised that Taiwan has rejected its politically planned route for the Olympic torch.

Taiwan is a democratic nation of 23 million people (a nation with a larger population than 75 percent of the member states of the UN).

It has always expressed the view that it wants the Olympic torch to pass from a third country through it to another third country before entering China.

The reason for this is that Taiwan wants to avoid the use of the Olympic torch route by China to bolster Beijing's political claim that this democratic nation belongs to China. Taiwan and China have been in negotiations over this matter.

Examine the Olympic torch route. The torch was to come up from Southeast Asia, bypassing Taiwan to Nagano, Japan.

It was then supposed to cross to Seoul, South Korea and then to Pyongyang, North Korea.

The route then returned south, again bypassing Taiwan, to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

After going past Taiwan twice, it was due to come back up to Taiwan. After Taiwan it was to go to Hong Kong, then through various cities in China, ending up in Beijing.

China is already planning to have the Olympic torch travel through Tibet to bolster its territorial claim over the region, which it has occupied for more than 50 years.

Who is playing politics? Who is mixing sports with politics?

The political row over the route could easily be satisfied if the torch stopped in Taiwan on its way north to Japan or again if it stopped in Taiwan on its way south to Vietnam.

A route from North Korea to Taiwan to Vietnam and then to Hong Kong would be the simplest way to resolve the situation.

Jerome Keating is a writer based in Taiwan.
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