Taipei (AsiaNews/Agencies) – The Olympic torch will not pass through Taiwan. The governments of Taiwan and China in fact have failed to reach agreement on the passage of the Olympic symbol. The island has become the first country not to have been touched by the torch since the re-opening of the Olympic Games in 1896.
The announcement was made by the International Olympic Committee: “With time to firm up logistics running out, the route will now have to go ahead without a stop in Chinese Taipei”. Taiwanese Sports Affairs Council chairman Yang Chung-ho responded: “We deeply regret that the torch is unable to come to Taiwan because of the unreasonable demand by China”.
The reference is to Beijing's demand - when the two sides were about to sign an agreement - that the island not display national flags, its emblem or play its anthem while the torch was in Taipei. But Taipei too had made it’s own demands : the torch was not to have come from Macao or Hong Kong, neither was it to be brought back to mainland China following its passage on the island: this because of fears that “Taiwan be considered part of Chinese territory”.