Taiwan, take it or leave it, that remains the position of Beijing Olympic organizers, embarrassed two months ago when Taiwan backed out of participating in the 2008 Olympic torch relay -- just two hours after the route was announced on national TV.
"I think I've made my point very clear," Jiang Xiaoyu (
The route proposed by Beijing organizers has the torch arriving in Taiwan from Vietnam on April 30 next year and going on to Hong Kong and Macau. Many in Taiwan have pushed for a route that takes the torch through Taiwan via two Asian countries other than China.
"The April 26 route was agreed to by Beijing organizers and the Taipei Olympic Committee," Jiang said. "This is a written agreement and jointly agreed to. And the route was approved by the International Olympic Committee. We hope that the Taipei Olympic Committee and related Taiwan authorities can return to this previously arrived at agreement and return to our written agreement."
In announcing official numbers yesterday for the torch relay, Jiang gave no hint there was room for negotiation with Taiwan over the politically sensitive issue.
"The Olympic flame going through Taiwan is the aspiration of people on both sides of the Taiwan strait," Jiang said.
"We hope that the Olympic Committee of Taipei and other parties will stay free from artificial factors and return to the basic and common understanding reached by the two sides," he said.
Officials said 21,880 torchbearers would participate worldwide in the relay, the largest in Olympic history. Of the total, 19,400 will cover the routes in China. Beijing is allocated 624 torchbearer spots with 120 for Taiwan.
Olympic sponsors are allocated 5,586 spots in the torch relay -- 25 percent of the total. But Jiang said sponsors would have no say over picking participants for the prestigious final legs of the relay -- including the torchbearer who lights the Olympic caldron.
"That decision lies in the hands of BOCOG and not any other selection entities," Jiang said.
The 137,000km route will take 130 days to complete, cross five continents and reach the summit of Mount Everest. The relay begins March 25 in Greece and arrives in Beijing on March 31.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
Taitung County is to launch charter flights to Malaysia at the end of this year, after setting up flights to Vietnam and Thailand, the Taitung County Government said yesterday. The new charter flight services, provided by low-cost carrier Batik Air Malaysia, would be part of five-day tour packages for visits to Taitung County or Malaysia. The Batik Air charter flight, with about 200 seats, would take Malaysian tourists to Taitung on Dec. 30 and then at 12:35pm return to Kuala Lumpur with Taiwanese tourists. Another charter flight would bring the Taiwanese home on Jan. 3 next year, arriving at 5:30pm, before taking the
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
An exhibition celebrating Taiwan and Japan’s comic culture opened on Saturday in Taichung, featuring a section that explores Taiwanese reproductions of Japanese comics from when martial law limited Japanese representation. “A Century of Manga Culture: An Encounter of Taiwan and Japan’s Youth” held its Taiwan opening ceremony at Taichung’s National Taiwan Museum of Comics after an initial one-month run in Japan’s Kyoto International Manga Museum between May 24 and June 24. Much like the Kyoto exhibition, the show mainly celebrates the comic connection between Taiwan and Japan through late Taiwanese comic book
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