IOC urge Taiwan to accept torch relay route

A member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) urged the agency's Chinese Taipei branch to accept the arrangement of the Olympic torch relay route or "get out of the committee" during an interview in Beijing.

"They [Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee] should understand their special position in the IOC, so if they don't cooperate, then get out of the committee," Australian Kevan Gosper told the newspaper The Australian.

Joining the IOC as early as 1977, Gosper is the fifth longest-serving member of the committee's 115 members. He was in Beijing to attend the celebrations for the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games. The IOC veteran made the stiff remarks against the uncooperative Taiwan authorities as the Organizing Committee of the Beijing Olympic Games still hopes Taiwan will participate in the Olympic torch relay.

Taiwan authorities rejected its inclusion in the 2008 Beijing Olympics torch relay route in April 27, in which the Olympic flame is set to land in Ho Ch Minh City in Vietnam, then to Taipei before going to Hong Kong.

Originally, Taiwan wanted to participate in the international route -- with the torch entering and departing the island via other nations. But Beijing insists the Taiwan leg of the route is part of the domestic route.

"When the Olympic committee recognized the legitimate membership of the People's Republic of China in the late 1970s, they found a solution to dealing with Taiwan," said Gosper. "This is a unique result, to which the mainland also agreed, so it's a good resolution."