Why no Winter Olympics
Travel to any godforsaken place on Earth (including some places with names you can’t even pronounce) and you will probably find people watching the Winter Olympics on TV.
In some places, they are watching their national teams and athletes compete; in some cases, they are dreaming of competing; in some places dreaming that their countrymen or countrywomen might some day compete.
Not in Taiwan.
Turn on the TV in the past week and you can watch a replay of last year’s Deaflympics and World Games. I recall eagerly turning on the TV to see the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics and at the very same moment the opening ceremony in Vancouver was starting, Taiwanese television was broadcasting the opening ceremony — of the Deaflympics in Taipei last year.
It was almost as though we were being fed a cheap imitation of the real thing, a fake, a rerun instead of the original, though you had to watch closely to notice it was not the right opening ceremony. The rest of the week was reruns of the World Games in Kaoshiung.
Pathetic.
Some people might argue that since Taiwan does not field a team at the Winter Olympics — there was one athlete from Taiwan — what’s the point?
As I mentioned, because there is no interest in anything that takes place outside of Taiwan, there is little chance for young Taiwanese athletes to dream “outside the box.” It is the longing of these youngsters that makes dreams become reality and by eschewing great events outside Taiwan — aside from those that take place in Hong Kong or China — Taiwanese are missing out on the opportunity to proclaim the nation’s greatness to the world.
Even if you have never skated, watching great skaters is fascinating. Even if you have never played hockey, watching great hockey matches is exciting. Even if you have never gone skiing, watching downhill races or ski jumping is exciting.
I bet if the Winter Olympics were being held in China, we would have it on TV here 24/7.
When I saw no broadcast of the Winter Olympics on Taiwanese TV, it gave me a truly odd feeling in my stomach.
How is it possible that a nation can have such low expectations and such little interest in the world around it?
LEE LONG-HWA
New York
The central bank and the US Department of the Treasury on Friday issued a joint statement that both sides agreed to avoid currency manipulation and the use of exchange rates to gain a competitive advantage, and would only intervene in foreign-exchange markets to combat excess volatility and disorderly movements. The central bank also agreed to disclose its foreign-exchange intervention amounts quarterly rather than every six months, starting from next month. It emphasized that the joint statement is unrelated to tariff negotiations between Taipei and Washington, and that the US never requested the appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar during the
The diplomatic dispute between China and Japan over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments in the Japanese Diet continues to escalate. In a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, China’s UN Ambassador Fu Cong (傅聰) wrote that, “if Japan dares to attempt an armed intervention in the cross-Strait situation, it would be an act of aggression.” There was no indication that Fu was aware of the irony implicit in the complaint. Until this point, Beijing had limited its remonstrations to diplomatic summonses and weaponization of economic levers, such as banning Japanese seafood imports, discouraging Chinese from traveling to Japan or issuing
Since leaving office last year, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has been journeying across continents. Her ability to connect with international audiences and foster goodwill toward her country continues to enhance understanding of Taiwan. It is possible because she can now walk through doors in Europe that are closed to President William Lai (賴清德). Tsai last week gave a speech at the Berlin Freedom Conference, where, standing in front of civil society leaders, human rights advocates and political and business figures, she highlighted Taiwan’s indispensable global role and shared its experience as a model for democratic resilience against cognitive warfare and
The diplomatic spat between China and Japan over comments Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made on Nov. 7 continues to worsen. Beijing is angry about Takaichi’s remarks that military force used against Taiwan by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” necessitating the involvement of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. Rather than trying to reduce tensions, Beijing is looking to leverage the situation to its advantage in action and rhetoric. On Saturday last week, four armed China Coast Guard vessels sailed around the Japanese-controlled Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台), known to Japan as the Senkakus. On Friday, in what
RSS