Liao Lin Li-Ling's (廖林麗玲) article ("Why can't Taiwan host the Olympics?", Aug. 10, page 8) shows that she has some knowledge of sport and how hosting a major international sporting event could benefit Taiwan. What is obvious to her, however, is certainly not so obvious to many Taiwanese, and this is why it is foolish to think Taiwan is ready to organize an event such as the Olympics.
Taiwanese have no idea how to organize an international tournament. And empty stadiums during the Baseball World Cup showed that Taiwanese will not watch a sports event for the beauty of the game, nor watch athletes other than Taiwanese.
The Futsal World Cup staged here in 2004 was also a fiasco in terms of organization, sponsorship and public interest. What was the point? There was little interest in futsal in Taiwan before the tournament and there is no interest now.
Attitudes toward sport here are slowly changing but it will take one, if not two, generations for Taiwanese to integrate sport into their daily lives.
Looking at hosting the 2040, 2044 or 2048 Olympics would still be optimistic in my opinion, but is definitely a more realistic target.
If you want to use the 2020 Olympic Games as a wake-up call for Taiwan, all we will get will be comments like President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) declaration about sending 20 soccer players to Brazil to boost the nation's chance of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup. Such naive statements will only harm Taiwan's international image.
David Camhi
Taiwan
Taiwan stands at the epicenter of a seismic shift that will determine the Indo-Pacific’s future security architecture. Whether deterrence prevails or collapses will reverberate far beyond the Taiwan Strait, fundamentally reshaping global power dynamics. The stakes could not be higher. Today, Taipei confronts an unprecedented convergence of threats from an increasingly muscular China that has intensified its multidimensional pressure campaign. Beijing’s strategy is comprehensive: military intimidation, diplomatic isolation, economic coercion, and sophisticated influence operations designed to fracture Taiwan’s democratic society from within. This challenge is magnified by Taiwan’s internal political divisions, which extend to fundamental questions about the island’s identity and future
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Huang Kuo-chang (黃國昌) is expected to be summoned by the Taipei City Police Department after a rally in Taipei on Saturday last week resulted in injuries to eight police officers. The Ministry of the Interior on Sunday said that police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by an estimated 1,000 “disorderly” demonstrators. The rally — led by Huang to mark one year since a raid by Taipei prosecutors on then-TPP chairman and former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) — might have contravened the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), as the organizers had
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) last week made a rare visit to the Philippines, which not only deepened bilateral economic ties, but also signaled a diplomatic breakthrough in the face of growing tensions with China. Lin’s trip marks the second-known visit by a Taiwanese foreign minister since Manila and Beijing established diplomatic ties in 1975; then-minister Chang Hsiao-yen (章孝嚴) took a “vacation” in the Philippines in 1997. As Taiwan is one of the Philippines’ top 10 economic partners, Lin visited Manila and other cities to promote the Taiwan-Philippines Economic Corridor, with an eye to connecting it with the Luzon
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has postponed its chairperson candidate registration for two weeks, and so far, nine people have announced their intention to run for chairperson, the most on record, with more expected to announce their campaign in the final days. On the evening of Aug. 23, shortly after seven KMT lawmakers survived recall votes, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced he would step down and urged Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) to step in and lead the party back to power. Lu immediately ruled herself out the following day, leaving the subject in question. In the days that followed, several
RSS