The invitation to attend the Olympic Torch Relay ceremony in Beijing. (ATR)(ATR) All eyes will be on Taiwan when Beijing Olympic organizers announce the route of the torch relay for the 2008 Games at the Beijing Millennium Monument.
Olympic officials from China and Chinese Taipei are reported to have held last-minute talks on the sensitive route this week, but it remains unclear if they reached a compromise that would satisfy the political requirements of both sides.
During meetings in Beijing this week, BOCOG and IOC officials said they hoped the two sides could agree on a route. But the officials are sworn to silence until after the ceremony to unveil the route of what is being billed as the most spectacular torch relay in Olympic history.
BOCOG said after an Executive Board meeting April 12 that it had finalized the route of a "harmonious journey".
The torch relay will "spread the Olympic Spirit, display the concepts of the Beijing Olympics and how the Chinese people understand and seek after the Olympic Spirit," BOCOG says.
The unveiling of the relay will take place Thursday evening at the Millennium Monument in west Beijing. The design of the Olympic torch will also be revealed in the ceremony. IOC President Jacques Rogge and other leaders of the IOC will be attending the event.
The Taiwan government has demanded that the section on the island be regarded as part of the international route, not part of the domestic leg.
The Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post newspaper Tuesday The Millennium Monument will be the scene of the torch relay announcement. (ATR)quoted Jonathan Liu Te-hsun, vice-chairman of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, as saying the two sides were "still negotiating the details and it would be too far-fetched to say that we have already reached an agreement".
Any route through Taiwan must comply with IOC protocol and uphold the "principle that Taiwan is treated equally as a sovereign and dignified nation", Liu told the newspaper.
Despite a brief protest at the Mount Everest Hein Verbruggen says he expects protests over the torch relay but that the IOC will not be involved in disputes over Chinese politics. (ATR)Base Camp by four US citizens supporting Tibetan independence Wednesday, BOCOG is expected to take the torch to the 29,017 ft summit of Everest in
China's disputed Tibet region. It remains to be seen if the route will involve carrying the torch down
from the Everest summit on the Chinese side or via a potentially more dangerous route into Nepal.
Chinese authorities detained the four US citizens, including a Tibetan-American, after they unfurled a banner reading "One World, One Dream, Free Tibet 2008" in English, and "Free Tibet" written in Tibetan and Chinese.
Chinese climbers are said to be at the mountain preparing for a rehearsal of the torch relay leg in the Himalayas.
In response to reports of the protest at Everest Base Camp, Hein Verbruggen, chairman of the IOC coordination commission for the 2008 Games, defended the decision to award the games to China and said the IOC would maintain its position of not getting involved in political issues.
"We don't want to be involved in any political issues," Verbruggen said in Beijing Wednesday.
"The IOC is a sports organization. We feel bringing the games here, in general, will be beneficial for social and economic development in this country."
Reporting from Beijing by Bill Smith.
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