Temporarily setting aside the sovereignty feud, more than 4,000 joggers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait kicked off a 10-city run starting in Taipei and ending in Beijing yesterday in support of China's bid for the 2008 Olympics.
"I sincerely hope Beijing can host the 2008 Olympics Games," said Chi Cheng (
In a carnival atmosphere, some spectators chanted "Beijing, Go, Go, Go," while others roller-skated along. Still others threw colorful frisbees on the richly decorated grounds in front of Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall, the venue of the event.
A 23-member Chinese delegation led by retired Chinese gymnast Li Xiaoshuang (
All-round support
Young and old participants from various sports and traditional martial arts groups ran the behind the athletes.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to convene its annual meeting in Moscow on July 13, when committee members will choose which city will host the 2008 Games. Beijing is competing against Paris, Toronto, Osaka and Istanbul.
Chi, who won a bronze medal for Taiwan in the women's 80m hurdles at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, said that China, as the world's most populous country, deserves the chance to stage the Games.
Taipei was the first leg of the run straddling 10 Taiwanese and Chinese cities.
The run's kickoff was a big success, with 4,000 T-shirts given away according to the organizer. The second leg will be held in the southern port city of Kaohsiung today.
Sport has emerged as one of the few areas in which China and Taiwan have found some common ground.
Wu Ching-kuo (吳經國), the IOC representative in Taiwan, has long pledged to cast his vote for Beijing. Early last month, Chinese Olympic Committee President Yuan Weimin (袁偉民) personally arrived in Taipei to lobby on Beijing's behalf.
Taiwan delegation
A 40-member Taiwanese delegation will fly to Hong Kong tomorrow en route to the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen for the third leg of the cross-strait road run.
Other Chinese cities hosting road races are Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing. The event will reach its climax as runners reach Beijing on June 30.
Official relations remain icy across the Strait, as Beijing refuses to talk to the DPP government. But many Taiwanese politicians and citizens support Beijing's Olympic bid, saying it bodes well for peace and stability in the region. Some even argue that if Beijing wins the bid, it will avoid potential brinkmanship between the two sides in the run-up to the 2008 games.
Still, a group of 20 from the tiny Taiwan Independence Party protested at the park, calling on the IOC to reject Beijing for its refusal to renounce the use of force against Taiwan.
"They [the Chinese] are undermining the dignity of Taiwan," said one protester. "We must not back their Olympic bid."
Echoing the theme, another demonstrator branded the run as another unification stunt staged by the pro-China camp. "What has Beijing's Olympics bidding got to do with us,'' he questioned, warning that the event may give the impression that Taiwan favors being united with the communist state.
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