When news of taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun’s (楊淑君) disqualification from the Asian Games on Wednesday last week made it back to Taiwan, the Sports Affairs Council first responded by saying that contestants should “swallow” decisions. However, as public reaction grew stronger, senior members of the government immediately changed their tune and said there was no need take the decision lying down, promising to offer stronger backing to the nation’s athletes.
I hope they meant what they said and they don’t forget their pledge once the storm blows over. Otherwise, not too many athletes will be willing to represent Taiwan internationally.
Taiwanese athletes have always been very solitary and they often have to rely on raw talent and the limited funds their families can offer. Performing well is not enough to guarantee their future livelihoods. In addition, when they represent the nation overseas, they are often treated unfairly because of Taiwan’s international status. To put things simply, the government offers very little support to our athletes.
In June, tennis player Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) battled his way to the Wimbledon quarter-finals. When he returned to Taiwan, he urged the government to pay more attention to the training of Taiwanese tennis players. Premier Wu Den-yih’s (吳敦義) reaction was to say flat out that “this is impossible.”
The government pays no attention to nurturing talented athletes and when athletes experience problems representing Taiwan overseas, the government does not offer reasonable assistance. For example, in last year’s East Asian Games, taekwondo athlete Tseng Ching-hsiang (曾敬翔) was punched in the throat by his opponent and could not complete the competition. Apart from a vigorous protest by Minister Without Portfolio Ovid Tseng (曾志朗), members of the relevant government departments chose to handle the matter in a “low-key” manner. If the government pays such little regard to sports, how are we ever going to keep our athletes in Taiwan?
Last year, news broke that billiards player Wu Chia-ching (吳珈慶) would be applying for Singaporean citizenship with the intention of representing Singapore at the Asian Games. While Wu’s attempt was quashed, it undoubtedly sent a warning to sports authorities that if the government does not offer athletes a better environment and stronger support, it is very possible that all of the country’s best athletes will leave to represent other nations.
After golf star Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) won the LPGA championship, a plethora of rumors suggested that both China and South Korea were trying to get her to play for them by offering large sums of money. Tseng has strong financial backing from her family, so the alleged offers may not have tempted her, but most Taiwanese athletes do not come from a well-off background and not all athletes would be able to ignore the temptation of a big pay-day.
Singapore has experienced strong economic growth over the past few years and it has started to offer substantial remuneration in an active attempt to lure talented foreign athletes. Li Jiawei (李佳薇), Wang Yuegu (王越古) and Feng Tianwei (馮天薇), who won the team silver medal for Singapore in women’s table tennis at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, are all originally from China.
Singapore also has its eyes on athletes from Thailand, Indonesia and Taiwan. In August, Singapore spent US$280 million to host the world’s first ever Youth Olympics. Singapore’s determination to promote sports should not be ignored. If outstanding athletes like Yang are continuously disappointed by the response from the government and end up either retiring or representing other countries, Taiwan’s sporting scene would be dealt a huge blow.
Taiwan’s sports budget for this year is a mere NT$6.5 billion (US$212 million), a lot lower than that of Brazil, a country less economically developed. South Korea, one of Taiwan’s closest rivals in sports, spends more than NT$10 billion per year on training its national teams. It is little wonder that South Korea’s sporting accomplishments over the past 20 years has seen it become the second-strongest sporting nation in Asia.
What happened to Yang is something that government officials should think long and hard about. When the government does not offer any resources to athletes and cannot protect their dignity, how are we supposed to keep our best athletes in Taiwan?
Hsu Yu-fang is an associate professor at National Dong Hwa University’s Department of Sinophone Literature.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry