Olympic flame brings controversy.

The Olympic torch and it's flame should cover over a record 137 000 km during 130 days before the opening of the Beijing summer Olympics coming next August 2008.

The Beijing Olympic Committee announced that within the run, the flame is scheduled to go thru Taiwan. But that decision is raising a lot of controversy in Taiwan.

The Taiwan Olympic Commitee president, Tsai Chen-wei, said that it was an attempt to devaluate their sovereignty. Taiwan and China are political ennemies since the separation of Taiwan from China 58 years ago. Some controversy is also raised in Tibet and on Mount Everest as the flame is also planned to go thru those politically delicate areas.

The torch itself, made of aluminum, is 72 centemeters high and weights 985 grams. It represents a scroll with a traditional chinese symbol meaning ''The cloud of luck''. Let's hope it will bring luck as there are more negociations over the course of the torch going on.

Maybe the story will devellop a bit more in the upcoming months.

(Picture: Canadian Press)