Organizers of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games have agreed to mark the passage of the Olympic torch through Taiwan as an "international" leg of the torch relay, according to a report yesterday.
The Chinese-language newspaper China Times said that through the efforts of Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國), the Taiwanese member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Taipei and Beijing had reached a consensus that the Olympic torch would pass through Japan before entering Taiwan and going to China.
Beijing's previous plan was to allow the Olympic torch to enter Taiwan after the completion of the China leg of the relay, before moving on to either Japan or South Korea.
But Taiwan had declared that it welcomed the Olympic torch if Beijing marked Taiwan as a stop on its international relay route, not China's domestic relay route.
The Beijing 2008 Olympic Games organizing committee must now apply to the IOC for approval of the torch relay route, the China Times said.
Like China's offer of two pandas, which Taiwan outright rejected on Friday, the torch relay has become a political football between the communist-run China and democratic Taiwan.
Symbolism
The Olympic torch, an embodiment of the Olympic movement's ideals, is loaded with symbolism.
Beijing has grandiose plans for the relay, hoping to see the torch carried through Tibet -- a restive area under Chinese control since 1950.
"Anything that undermines our sovereignty is out of the question," David Lee (
Beijing's Olympic organizers are expected to discuss the issue with the Taiwan Olympic committee later this year. The International Olympic Committee has said it hopes to approve a final torch route late this year.
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