BEIJING : The Playing Fields of Asia

Politics are mixing with sports in Beijing this week as athletes from divided nations meet on and off the playing fields in the Asian Games.

In a sign of easing tensions between Nationalist Taiwan and Communist mainland China, a team from Taiwan will be competing under the name “Chinese Taipei.” The presence of teams from both North Korea and South Korea has helped raise enough excitement in Seoul that 416 South Korean journalists are registered to cover the events. The games, which run to Oct. 7, are also providing a pretext for expanded diplomatic contacts between Beijing and Hanoi, which have had tense relations since a brief border war in 1979.