China Hints at Olympic Boycott If Taiwanese Officials Attend

China’s top sports official has hinted that Beijing may boycott the Atlanta Olympic Games if the United States allows high-ranking Taiwanese officials to attend the event, Japan’s Kyodo news service said.

Wu Shaozu, China’s minister of State for Physical Culture and Sports Commission and also head of its Olympic Committee, told Kyodo late Thursday that if Taiwanese officials went to Atlanta “things would be much worse” than China’s near-boycott of the 1994 Asian Games in Hiroshima over the same issue.

“If something similar happens in Atlanta, things will get much worse than Hiroshima,” Wu said in Harbin, northeast China, where the Winter Asian Games are being held.

In 1994, China prevented Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui from attending the opening ceremony of the Hiroshima Asian Games by threatening to boycott the event.

“China will react fiercely and sharply if something like this happens again. If it happens at the Atlanta Olympics, it will amount to interference in China’s domestic affairs,” Wu was quoted as saying. The Atlanta Olympics start in July.

China, which considers Taiwan a renegade province, has threatened military action against the island if it formally declares independence or continues to campaign for greater international status.