Olympic torch to bypass Taiwan

The torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games will not pass through Taipei, a senior official from the organizing committee (BOCOG) said on Friday night, saying "the Taiwan authorities unilaterally ended the talks and closed the door for discussion".

"On Thursday, Tsai Chen-wei, president of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, said in a letter to BOCOG that the committee will not further discuss the issue of the Olympic torch relay passing through Taipei," Jiang Xiaoyu, BOCOG executive vice-president, said.

"On the same night, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) officially told BOCOG the 2008 Beijing Olympic torch will have to go ahead without a stopover in Taiwan," he said.