Taiwan can share torch, Beijing says

The Olympic flame -- the light of spirit, knowledge and life, and a herald of peace -- will be arranged to be carried in Taiwan if Beijing succeeds in winning the right to host the 2008 Olympic Games, a Chinese sports official visiting Taiwan said yesterday.

Che Xiangdong (車向東), deputy director of the liaison department under Beijing's All-China Sports Federation, said Taiwan will be included in the flame relay during the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Olympics if Beijing hosts the Games.

Che, at the head of a 23-member group of Chinese athletes in Taiwan since last week for the cross-strait "Beijing Olympics, Chinese pride" race, made the remarks at Kao-hsiung's international airport yesterday morning before leaving for Hong Kong, where athletes from both sides of the Taiwan Strait will proceed to Shenzhen to continue the 10-city, 15-day relay run.

Soliciting support from the Taiwan public, Che said, "In Asia, the Koreans and Japanese have hosted the Olympic Games, so why can't the Chinese?"

A group of Taiwan athletes, led by veteran Chi Cheng (紀政) -- who earned the nickname "the flying antelope" for breaking records at world track and field events -- boarded the same Hong Kong-bound plane as Che, to join the Chinese athletes for the next stage of the relay run, which will take place in Shenzhen, Ningbo, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Wuxi, Nanjing and Qingdao before arriving in Beijing on June 30.

Some 4,000 Taipei residents Saturday joined the cross-strait athletes on the first leg of the race which is held to highlight Beijing's bid to host the 2008 Games.

The race was partially disrupted on Sunday in Kaohsiung by noisy demonstrators from the Independence Party riding on their "democracy tank," shouting, "No to China's united front," and "Oppose China's scheme to localize Taiwan in the guise of the cross-strait relays."