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China tries Olympics to lure Taiwan to table |
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July 2, 2000
BEIJING, JULY 1 (AP) - Having failed so far to coax rival Taiwan into talks, China is trying to entice the island with the prospect of co-hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.
China's General Administration of Sports has offered to discuss Taiwanese participation in the 2008 Olympics, which Beijing is bidding for, but only after Taiwan accepts that it is part of "one China," the state-run China Daily reported Saturday.
The report, quoting a senior sports official, underscores Beijing's willingness to forgo chances for cooperation with Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian's new government until he accepts China's terms for talks on unification.
Wary of Chen's once strident support for Taiwan's permanent independence, Beijing has demanded he recognize the "one-China principle" as a precondition for any talks.
Appearing conciliatory, Chen has called for unconditional talks and urged Beijing's communist leaders to follow the bold summitry of rivals North and South Korea. He has offered to support Beijing's Olympics bid and even co-host some events as a way of easing tensions.
A Taiwanese representative to the International Olympic Committee, C.K. Wu, arrived in Beijing Wednesday reportedly to see what assistance Taiwan could offer.
A senior official with the General Administration of Sports, Shao Shiwei, urged Wu to vote for Beijing at next year's balloting, the China Daily reported. But Shao indicated that sports would not come before politics when it comes to Taiwan.
"An expectation Chinese people on both sides of the (Taiwan) Strait have had for a long time is to bring the Olympic Games to China," the China Daily quoted administration official Shao Shiwei as saying.
Shao said the administration would consider holding talks with Taiwan sports officials on the Olympics once Taipei backs the "one-China principle," the China Daily said.
"We won't allow anyone to use this issue to promote 'two Chinas' or 'one China, one Taiwan' or anything detrimental to the reunification of the Chinese nation," Shao was quoted as saying.
In sports-crazy China, winning the Olympics would boost the popularity of the ruling Communist Party. But few issues are more central to the party's legitimacy than its quest to unify Taiwan and end the 51-year split from the Chinese civil war.
Beijing also seeks vindication in its current bid for the Olympics. The city lost by one vote to Sydney in the 1993 bidding for the 2000 games, and many Chinese blame the loss on U.S. criticism of China's human rights record.
Beijing is bidding against nine other cities for the 2008 games and expects its candidacy to be approved by the International Olympic Committee in August, the China Daily said.
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