TAIPEI, Taiwan, Sept. 21 -- The torch relay for the 2008 Summer Olympics will not go through Taiwan after Taiwanese and Beijing officials reached a dead end in negotiations on the route, international and Taiwan Olympic officials said Friday.

The announcements end a five-month saga that began when Taiwan turned down the Beijing Organizing Committee's proposal to place the island next to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong on the prestigious relay route.

At a Taipei news conference, Taiwan Olympic Committee Chairman Tsai Chen-wei said that the IOC had demanded a Sept. 20 cutoff date for negotiations on the relay, and that with the deadline having passed, Taiwan could not be on the route.

"It's impossible to continue (the negotiations)," Tsai said. "There will be no time to prepare for the torch relay."

Wang Feng-chen, a 34-year-old coffee shop manager, blamed Taiwanese leader Chen Shui-bian.

"He did not like mainland (China), so he stopped the torch from coming," she said.

(AP/Agencies)