Beijing courts controversy over torch relay to Taiwan

BEIJING, Apr 26 (Reuters) Beijing courted a political battle of wills with Taiwan today by including the self-governed island as the planned stop before Hong Kong in the torch relay schedule for the 2008 Olympic Games.

The 97,000-km route, which also includes a trip to the top of Mount Everest and visits to 20 cities on five continents, was announced by the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic games (BOCOG) at a ceremony in the Chinese capital.

Taiwan's ruling party said last week it would not accept a place on the torch relay if the flame entered or exited the island via mainland China or Hong Kong and Macau, which are Special Administrative Regions ruled by Beijing.

The inclusion of Taiwan is very important to the Beijing government -- which considers the island a rebel province to be reunited with the mainland by force if necessary -- and it wants the stopover there to be part of the 90-day ''China leg'' of the tour.

Taipei has scheduled a press conference on this issue for 1400 GMT.

REUTERS BJR RK1830