Taiwan Objects To 2008 Olympic Torch Route

Says It Won't Participate In Beijing Games' Politically Sensitive Torch Relay Path

(AP)  Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said politics should be kept out of the games, and that Beijing had the support of the country and of people around the world.

"Most of China's citizens are looking forward and making preparations for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Most people in the world are looking forward to a successful Olympic Games that can promote the friendship of people around the world," he told a news conference.

The relay, which is supposed to embody the Olympic values of friendship through sports, is a popular public-relations tool and the only contact most people have with the Olympics.

As with all Olympics, next year's relay will begin in Greece and wind across the globe before it is used to ignite the cauldron at the opening ceremony on Aug. 8, 2008, in Beijing's 91,000-seat Olympic Stadium.

Other stops announced Thursday include Paris; San Francisco; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; Islamabad, Pakistan; and Pyongyang, the capital of politically isolated and belligerent North Korea.

"The Beijing 2008 torch relay will, as its theme says, be a journey of harmony, bringing friendship and respect to people of different nationalities, races and creeds," IOC President Jacques Rogge told the ceremony.

The relay's signature moment is expected to be its ascent to the summit of Mount Everest, which straddles Chinese-ruled Tibet and Nepal.

The International Olympic Committee, which shies away from controversy, was drawn into torch-relay politics after the three Americans and a Tibetan-American were detained on Everest. They waved a banner reading: "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008." Another one in English and Chinese read: "Free Tibet."

"We are certainly going to have more of this (protests)," Hein Verbruggen, head of the IOC body that coordinates with Beijing organizers, told reporters in Beijing. "We know that."

"We don't want to be, as the IOC, involved in any political issues."

In the design of the torch, China looked to its ancient past and dynamic present, choosing a design that resembles a traditional Chinese scroll and was conceived by its leading computer maker.

The 28-inch-tall red-and-silver tube-shaped torch was created by Lenovo Group Ltd. and picked by Beijing Olympic organizers from among more than 300 competing designs.

Lenovo, an Olympics sponsor well-known in China but not elsewhere, said the torch project was begun independently by its designers, without prodding by company management. But being so closely linked to a key Olympic symbol could help Lenovo's efforts to use the games to make itself a worldwide brand.

Thirty-four Lenovo designers worked on the torch design for nearly a year, producing nearly 30 different concepts before picking the final design, said Yao Yingjia, executive director of Lenovo's Innovation Design Center in Beijing.

The rolled-up scroll shape represents China's contribution to world culture through its invention of paper, said Yao, while the pattern of swirling clouds on the top third of the torch represents the interaction of people.

"That looked like the Olympic spirit: People come together and share good experiences and look forward to the future," Yao said in an interview ahead of the unveiling.

[liuxiaodnn]

There're many Chinese cities are not involved in this relay, if Taiwan doesn't want to be a part of this relay, then, it's ok I think.

If the torch entered HongKong from the U.S, would that belittle the sovereinty of the U.S%uFF1F The Taiwan officials are so ridiculous and easily scared.