BEIJING, June 23: Beijing insists that Taiwan will only be included in the 2008 Olympic torch relay under the terms of the written agreement reached with the island's Olympic Committee earlier this year.

When the route was announced in late April, the Taiwan government said it could not accept the torch because Taipei's position on the relay – after Ho Chi Minh City and before Hong Kong – implied it was part of China.

The inclusion of Taiwan is important to the Beijing government, which considers the island a rebel province to be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary, but hopes of a negotiated compromise look bleak.

“As far as BOCOG is concerned, the passing of the Olympic flame through Taipei has been defined by BOCOG and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee,” Jiang Xiaoyu, executive vice president of the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), told a news conference on Saturday.

“We hope they will stay free from artificial factors and return to the written agreement made by both sides, and validated by the International Olympic Committee.

“If the CTOC can return to the agreement already made, the selection of the 120 torch bearers for Taipei will kick off after that.”

Jiang would not say whether BOCOG would consider negotiations with Taipei but an approach from the other side of the Taiwan strait looks unlikely.

A spokeswoman for the Taiwan government Mainland Affairs Council said this week that BOCOG had described Taiwan as ‘China Taiwan’ on its official website, not the Olympic name ‘Chinese Taipei’.

Although it had been changed back, the usage was picked up by the Chinese media and Taiwan was waiting for Beijing to suggest renegotiating the torch route “to express sincerity”, the spokeswoman said.

The 130-day, 137,000km torch relay, due to stop over in Taipei in late April 2008, will require 21,880 torch bearers, organisers said on Saturday. The Games start next August.—Reuters