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EDITORIAL: A creeping loss of sovereign spirit

A creeping loss of sovereign spirit

After the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) fictional “1992 consensus” — with Taipei and Beijing purportedly agreeing on “one China, with each side having its own interpretation” — comes another attempt to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Beijing, as the host of the Summer Olympics, has been maneuvering to change Taiwan’s title at the Games from “Chinese Taipei” or Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北) to “Taipei, China” or Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北).

Under a protocol signed with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Taiwan’s Olympic team is addressed as “Chinese Taipei.” Beijing has, however, brazenly chosen to ignore this, choosing to push its own take on the name.

Never mind President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) acknowledgment in his inaugural speech of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s (胡錦濤) words on facing reality, pioneering a new future, shelving controversies and pursuing a win-win situation. Shrewd as ever, China has referred to Taiwan’s Olympic team as Zhongguo Taibei in its media reports. Yang Yi (楊毅), the spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, argued that the IOC decision on the use of Zhonghua Taibei was not binding on any other Chinese groups, organizations or individuals.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mainland Affairs Council have slammed Beijing, saying the Taiwanese team would never accept the title Zhongguo Taibei.

While the government pats itself on the back for verbally defending the dignity of the national team, there lies a subtle yet sad change in the game of Taiwan versus China in which Taiwan, so far, is losing points.

Case in point: Under the former Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government, the administration battled to participate in international events and organizations under the name “Taiwan” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” Now, under the KMT regime, the nation has fallen to defending the name “Chinese Taipei” against the title “Taipei, China.”

Yang has argued that using the name Zhongguo Taibei does not belittle Taiwan. He was right — to a certain extent — because Taiwan had already downgraded its name when it accepted the title “Chinese Taipei” in 1981.

But the seemingly harmless effect of calling Taiwan “Chinese Taipei” is slowly creeping in and gradually transforming national identity. Hence, we see more Taiwanese fans cheering for their athletes by calling them “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” and Ma readily choosing the name “Chinese Taipei” for the country’s application to join the WHO.

While visiting a national athletes’ training center in Kaohsiung yesterday, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) was asked whether Beijing’s use of Zhongguo Taibei to refer to Taiwan’s Olympic team was a downgrading of Taiwan’s status.

Liu replied that the government was prepared “to deal with any possible scenarios that may happen.”

Let’s hope so. Or else Beijing could introduce Taiwan as part of China at the Olympic opening ceremony when it calls Taiwan’s Aboriginal dance performance a show by “one of China’s minority groups” while Ma’s weak protest goes unnoticed.
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