China - Yao Ming in Taiwan, Olympic torch to be approved

From www.earthtimes.org
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China's basketball star Yao Ming arrived in Taipei Friday for a three-day visit, as Taipei is about to approve the sensitive 2008 Olympic torch relay route. Accompanied by his agent and several sports officials, Yao arrived at Taoyuan International Airport and was met by hundreds of fans shouting "Yao Ming! "Yao Ming!"

Yao accepted flower bouquets from the fans and was whisked into a minivan which taking him to the downtown Taipei hotel.

During his stay, Yao will visit the Taipei 101 skyscraper, play a friendly match and dine with Taiwan's high-tech executives.

Yao, 26 and 226 centimetres tall, is the centre for the NBA's Houston's Rockets.

He applied to visit Taiwan for a week as the charity ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to raise 200,000 US dollars for Taiwan's charity groups.

Taiwan originally rejected the application as Yao is the image ambassador for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Taiwan is angry that China has made Taipei a domestic leg of the Olympic torch relay.

But last week authorities reluctantly approved his visit but cut it to three days and barred him from raising funds, as Taipei and Beijing were reaching a consensus over the sensitive 2008 Olympic torch torch relay route.

Premier Chang Chun-hsiung said Friday that Taiwan could accept the relay arrangement if China regarded Taipei as an overseas leg of the torch replay and stops belittling Taiwan.

Chen Ming-tung, chairman of the Mainland Affairs Council, urged Beijing to sign an agreement over the new definition of the torch relay as soon as possible.

In July, China unveiled the relay route for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Under the plan, the torch would come to Taipei from Vietnam's Ho Chi Min City and go from Taipei to Hong Kong and Macau, the former British and Portuguese colonies which are now part of China.

Taiwan rejected the arrangement saying it is aimed at making Taiwan a domestic leg on the relay, and demanded the torch go from Taipei to a third country, like South Korea, before entering China, thus making Taiwan a stop on the international leg of the torch relay.

Taiwan now agrees to accept the torch relay, but demands China only to change the definition, by saying Taipei is part of the overseas route or by not mentioning Taipei is part of the domestic route.

China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province but Taiwan claims it is a sovereign country.

Taiwan bars mainlanders from visiting the island, but allows visit by invited Chinese delegations and individuals to visit Taiwan for cross-Strait exchanges.