Asiad organizers work to end boycott threat

Asiad organizers work to end boycott threat

TOKYO (Reuter): Asian Games organizers yesterday asked the head of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) to let them know which heads of state he has invited to the event as a disastrous Chinese boycott of the games looms closer.

The invitation issue involving OCA President Ahmad al-Fahad of Kuwait has turned into a diplomatic and security nightmare for Japanese officials for the games which open on Oct. 2 in Hiroshima.

The main worry is an OCA invitation issued to Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui which has led China, the Asian Games champions since 1986, to threaten to boycott the games.

"We are urging the OCA headquarters in Kuwait to send a list of OCA president-invited guests. But we have not received any answer from the OCA," said a Hiroshima Asian Games official.

In Kuwait, an OCA official said Ahmad was out of the country until next weekend and had no comment on the row.

The OCA is the sponsor of the games and Hiroshima organizers are worried time was running out to put the finishing touches on staging Asia's biggest sporting event because of uncertainty about China's participation.

Japanese security officials are worried that with less than a month until the games they do not know how many major guests they will need to protect.

"The invitation to Lee was made by the OCA president without consulting with us. So far, we have not heard (from the OCA) of any other heads of states being invited to attend the games," the official said.

Games officials are mystified why the OCA president would invite only one Asian head of state.

They are even more mystified, and some officials even angered, at why a group like the OCA which is charged with overseeing sport in Asia would be so unaware of the sensitivity of the China-Taiwan issue.

"This is making a laughing stock of the Olympic movement. They look like complete amateurs," one Asian diplomat said.

Some diplomats said the International Olympic Committee which oversees regional and national Olympic organizations, should step in and solve the impasse, even to the extent of overruling the invitation to Lee.

A Japanese foreign ministry official said yesterday the ministry was closely watching negotiations on Lee's visit between the OCA and the national Olympic committees of China and Taiwan.