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BEIJING Olympics organizers yesterday accused Taiwan of a "perfidious betrayal of trust" for reneging on an agreement to host a stop on next year's torch relay.
The schedule for the 2008 Olympic flame's worldwide journey was disclosed on Thursday by Beijing organizers and included a stop in Taiwan before the relay moved to Hong Kong on the 137,000-kilometer route.
Taiwan Olympic officials called the link between Taipei and Hong Kong an "attempt to include the island in the domestic relay route" and rejected the plan.
Jiang Xiaoyu, vice president of the Beijing Olympics organizing committee, expressed surprise at Taiwan's rejection because its Olympic committee had already agreed to the route in writing, he said.
"The Chinese nation has a fine tradition of keeping promises," he told a news conference. "We do not agree with such perfidious betrayals of trust.
"We still hope the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and its authorities ... will continue the consensus between the two parties and the route that has been approved by the International Olympic Committee."
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