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.