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China drags politics into the Olympic torch route

In 1990, the Japanese Coast Guard stopped the organizers of the Taiwan National Games from passing the games' torch through the waters near the Diaoyutai (釣魚台). Now, conflict surrounding the torch of a sports game is stirring up controversy for the second time.

On April 26, the Organizing Committee for the Beijing Olympic Games (BOCOG) announced the planned route for the Olympic torch relay, which was in line with the "domestic" route set out by the Chinese Olympic Committee in March last year. Taiwanese officials rejected the proposal, saying that although they would welcome the torch coming to Taiwan for just the second time in history, they found the plan prepared by China's Olympic Committee unacceptable.

When the discussions about the torch coming to Taiwan were just beginning, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) proposed four conditions: the path must follow Olympic protocol, it must be approved by Taiwan, China must guarantee that Taiwan's sovereignty is not belittled, and it must be beneficial to cross-straight relations. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules state that countries must give their approval to let the torch pass through. Since Taiwan all along has said that it must give its approval, the refusal is an expression of its national sovereignty. Of course the Taiwanese government has the right to reject any malicious arrangements.

Second, the stipulation that Taiwan's sovereignty must not be belittled was of course meant to keep politics from interfering in sports. But for Beijing to take the peaceful symbol of the torch relay and make it part of its unification campaign, and to claim that Taiwan is a part of China, is a clear attack on Taiwanese sovereignty and a violation of the principle of constructive cross-strait interaction.

Taiwan had hoped that China would continue with this, but China has insisted on calling it "Taipei, China," which implies that it is a part of China, the country. In another telling example of China's political moves in the sports arena, Taiwanese delegates of the World Games in Kaohsiung in 2009 have been refused visas to enter China.

The Kaohsiung mayor, vice mayor and head of the education bureau have not been allowed to go to China to report on the progress of their preparations to the General Association of International Sports Federations. China is clearly a country that is incapable of separating sports from political disputes.

The Beijing organizing committee's route enters East Asia via Australia, then goes to Japan, Seoul, Pyongyang and Vietnam. From Ho Chi Minh City it travels to "Taipei, China" before proceeding to "Hong Kong, China" and "Macau, China," and other parts of China.

With the torch passing by Taiwan at two earlier stages of the route, it would make more sense to plan an Australia-Taiwan-Japan route or a North Korea-Taipei-Vietnam route. China's preference for the Taiwan-Hong Kong path is an attempt to deny Taiwanese sovereignty by connecting Taiwan to its "domestic" relay. This is what Taiwan's government and people find unacceptable.

Nor is Taiwan the only place to reject the torch. With the route possibly passing through Tibet, Tibetan independence groups abroad objected on the grounds that it would amount to an acceptance of the Chinese government's control of Tibet.

The torch's route has implications for whether Taiwan is willing to be marginalized and made a part of China. It also once again highlights the importance and urgency of Taiwan normalizing its national status.

Yeh Chin-hung is an associate professor in the department of financial and economic law at the National Chung Cheng University. Translated by Marc Langer
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