SHANGHAI, April 26 -- The Taiwan authority last night rejected the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee's plan to include the province in the global torch relay for the 2008 Beijing Olympics,People.com reported today.

The announcement of Taiwan's refusal to take part in the relay came just hours after the organizing committee had set out its plans for the longest torch relay in Olympic history.

The Taiwan sports authority claimed that the route may have implications that would "compromise the island's sovereignty" and "debase its status with the mainland." The Taiwan sports authority and Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee were speaking at a joint press conference in Taipei, according to the Website of the People's Daily.

"We can't agree to join the torch relay unless the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee changes the route," said Yang Chung-Her, director of the sports committee, the report said.

Under the organizing committee's plan, the torch would have arrived in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan Province, from Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam on May 1 next year, kicking off the China section in the relay. The torch will then be passed to the Hong Kong and Macau special administration regions.

The relay is scheduled to begin in Greece, go to Beijing and then wind across Asia, Europe, the Americas, Africa, Oceania and then back to Asia and China before the torch ignites the cauldron at the opening ceremony on August 8, 2008, in Beijing's 91,000-seat National Stadium.

The journey will cover 137,000 kilometers, the longest in history, and last 130 days and involve 22,000 torch bearers.

Yang didn't make any comment on whether Taiwan would take part in the Games from August 8 to 24 at the conference, the report said.

The planned route from Ho Chi Minh City to Taipei is consistent with the International Olympic Committee's principle that the torch should be passed from one country to another, said Tsai Chen-wei, the head of Taiwan's Olympic Committee.

However, the Taiwan authority wanted the Taipei stop as part of the international route rather than one of the 114 domestic cities on the route.

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, a non-governmental organization, felt the authority's decision was a pity "but we have to live with it," Tsai said.

In an attempt at compromise in February, the Olympic organizers decided the torch would pass from another country to Taipei, to which Taiwan authority had agreed, the report said.

However, it rejected the notion this month and sent a letter to the IOC and the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee on Saturday to give notice of its rejection.

No official comment from the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee has been released yet. But "it sincerely hopes that the Taiwan compatriots can enjoy the glories and joy of the torch relay," Jiang Xiaoyu, a vice president of the committee said last night at the ceremony for the unveiling of the torch