Taipei backs Beijing's Olympic bid

Taipei backs Beijing's Olympic bid

TAIPEI (DPA): Chinese Taipei said Friday that it supports Beijing's hosting the 2008 Olympic Games and could partially open air links with China "if Beijing shows enough goodwill".

President Chen Shui-bian, speaking at a breakfast with media executives, said Taipei did not oppose Beijing hosting the 2008 Olympic Games.

"As to whether Taiwan and the mainland can co-host the games or whether some events can be played in Taipei - that is a complicated problem," Chen said.

"We must make careful consideration and Beijing may not want to co-host it with us," he added.

The evening newspaper China Times Express quoted a Chen aide as saying China's renouncing the use of force against Taipei was a prerequisite for co-hosting the Games.

"The Olympic Games uphold the principle of peace, therefore, peace is our government's highest principle on the issue of the Olympic Games," the aide said.

In related news, Taipei's top official handling ties with China said Friday that Taipei can partially open air links with China if Beijing shows goodwill towards Taipei.

Lin Chung-pin, chairman of the cabinet's Mainland Affairs Council, was responding to the American Chamber of Commerce's 2001 Taipei White Paper, which urged Taipei to open sea and air links with China.

Taipei has banned air and sea links with China since 1949, when civil war split China and Taipei into two parts, making Taipei seat of the exiled Republic of China government.

"We take foreign businessmen's opinions seriously and are aware that opening sea, air and trade links with the mainland is inevitable," Lin said.

"If Communist China shows enough goodwill and reopens bilateral talks, we do not rule out first opening point-to-point air links with the mainland," he said.

China and Taipei held their first dialog in 1993 and conducted a series of talks afterwards to discuss plane hijacking, fishing disputes and repatriation of mainland job seekers.

China halted the talks in 1995 to retaliate against former president Lee Teng-hui's visiting the United States, accusing Lee of promoting independence for Taipei on the trip.