A senior Asian rugby official blamed 'political reasons' for China being unable to get visas for the four-team tournament in Tainan, which is part of the Asian qualifying process for the 2011 Rugby World Cup.

'Obviously, there is a political element behind their withdrawal,' said Ross Mitchell, secretary-general of the Asian Rugby Football Union (ARFU), yesterday. 'We gave them seven months to get their visas and they still couldn't get it processed. We are very disappointed.'

The tournament, which also includes Singapore, Sri Lanka and hosts Taiwan, was originally due to be played in April. But at China's request to allow them more time to process travel visas, organisers pushed it back to this month.

The timing couldn't have been worse. Despite China and Taiwan signing landmark agreements to improve direct trade and transport links recently, last week's visit by Chen Yunlin - the most senior mainland official to visit Taiwan since the Communist revolution 59 years ago - raised the political temperature with violent protests by pro-independence groups in Taiwan.

It is believed there were concerns at a high level in the China State Sports Council, that if the China Rugby Association were to send a national representative team for a competition described as a 'nations' tournament, it might have been exploited by pro-independence groups.

China's withdrawal is a major blow on several fronts, according to Mitchell.

'Not only is it a huge blow to the development of the game on the mainland, but it is also a setback to the tournament,' he said. 'We owe it to the sponsors to have the best teams in the competition.'

The ARFU tried its best to get China to make their historic visit to Taiwan, who had beaten Sri Lanka for the hosting rights.

'We worked very hard trying to help them get visas. We gave the Chinese Rugby Association everything they wanted, had several meetings with them but it was all to no avail,' Mitchell said.

'We even approached the Chinese Olympic Committee to solicit help but that didn't work either.

'We still thought we had a good chance that China would appear as they [the Sevens team] are already confirmed for the World Games to be held next January in Kaohsiung [Taiwan].'

China's pull-out will result in them being relegated to Division Two next year.

The winners of this competition will join Japan, South Korea, Kazakhstan and Hong Kong in the elite division of the Asian Five Nations next year.

The HSBC Asian Five Nations was launched in April. The tournament is funded by HSBC which has given US$1.25 million in this inaugural year, while the International Rugby Board has chipped in with US$500,000. It encompasses 25 teams in Asia, from Guam to Kazakhstan and Iran to the Philippines.