Organizers of the 2008 Beijing Olympics announced grandiose plans for the torch relay yesterday, only to be engulfed by conflict over a proposed stop in China's political rival, Taiwan.
Within hours of Beijing's announcement of what would be the longest torch relay in Olympic history -- a 137,000-kilometre, 130-day route that would cross five continents and scale Mount Everest -- Taiwan rejected being included.
"It is something that the government and people cannot accept," Tsai Chen-wei, the head of Taiwan's Olympic Committee, said in the Taiwanese capital, Taipei.
This underscores the deep mistrust between Beijing and Taipei, antagonists in an unresolved civil war, and how entwined the Olympics become with politics.
Aside from Taiwan, the torch is also supposed to pass through another political hot spot, the Himalayan region of Tibet which China has controlled for 57 years, often with heavy-handed rule. Four U.S. activists were detained by Chinese authorities Wednesday on Mount Everest after unfurling a banner calling for Tibet's independence.
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.
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