Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) spokesman Johnnason Liu (
In a statement carried on the BBC's Chinese-language Web site on Saturday, Liu rebutted reports that he said at a news conference on Friday that the Olympic torch must enter Taiwan from a location other than Hong Kong or Macau and depart from Taiwan to another location other than Hong Kong or Macau.
Liu said in the BBC online report that he had been "misquoted" by a Chinese-language Web site, which claimed that Liu had listed "four major conditions" for the Olympic torch to pass through Taiwan.
Liu said he had informed the news conference last Friday of the MAC's four "requests" regarding the possibility that the relay could include Taiwan. He said the four "requests" were only requests and should not be interpreted as "conditions."
He then restated the four requests: that the torch be handled in accordance with the protocol of the International Olympic Committee (IOC); that China seek Taiwan's permission to have the 2008 Olympic torch pass through Taiwan; that China guarantee Taiwan's sovereignty will not be belittled or compromised in connection to the relay; and that the relay be a move conducive to constructive interaction between Taiwan and China.
Elaborating on the third request, Liu said that Taiwan was an independent "sports entity" of the the IOC and had taken part in Olympic competitions under the title of "Chinese Taipei" for years.
He said that China had stubbornly insisted on calling Taiwan "China, Taipei," adding that this was unacceptable to Taiwan and its athletes.
Liu called again on China to address Taiwan with the title that had been traditionally used by the IOC.
Liu stressed that as a member of the IOC, Taiwan would be proud to be part of the 2008 Olympic torch relay and would cooperate with the IOC in this regard in accordance with IOC traditions and formalities.
Presidential Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
Chiou said the route would belittle Taiwan by implying that it was a province of China.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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Heat advisories were in effect for nine administrative regions yesterday afternoon as warm southwesterly winds pushed temperatures above 38°C in parts of southern Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 3:30pm yesterday, Tainan’s Yujing District (玉井) had recorded the day’s highest temperature of 39.7°C, though the measurement will not be included in Taiwan’s official heat records since Yujing is an automatic rather than manually operated weather station, the CWA said. Highs recorded in other areas were 38.7°C in Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門), 38.2°C in Chiayi City and 38.1°C in Pingtung’s Sandimen Township (三地門), CWA data showed. The spell of scorching