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China slams Taiwan on Olympic torch

— Photo: AP

The Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch being unveiled in Hong Kong.

BEIJING: China on Friday criticised Taiwan’s refusal to join in the torch relay for next year’s Beijing Summer Olympics, calling it a “vile precedent” that violated the Olympic Charter.

The condemnation followed the announcement by Taiwanese and international Olympic officials that negotiations on bringing the torch to Taiwan were at a dead end, bringing the curtain down on five months of talks between Beijing and Taipei. Taiwan had objected to the Beijing Organising Committee’s proposal to place the island next to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong on the relay route, saying that made Taiwan appear to be part of Chinese territory.

“The Taiwanese authorities violated the Olympic Charter and manipulated the arrangements for the Taiwan leg of the relay for political purposes ... creating a vile precedent of an International Olympic Committee member refusing the torch relay within its jurisdiction,” said the Beijing Organising Committee in a statement posted on its website.

The torch route Beijing has proposed would have included 36 legs, including Taiwan, one of the most ambitious in Olympic history. — AP

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