“The electoral results today prove to the world that Taiwanese are people of freedom, Taiwanese are people of democracy. So long as I am the president, I will strive to not let any single one of my countrymen ever have to apologize over the issue of identity,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said in her victory speech after winning the Jan. 16 presidential election.
Her comments came a day after controversy erupted over Taiwan-born singer Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) being forced to apologize in a YouTube video for holding a Republic of China flag as she appeared alongside members of her K-pop group on a South Korean TV show.
However, three months into Tsai’s presidency, a group of sports fans was treated rudely at Taichung’s Intercontinental Baseball Stadium for waving a banner that read “Taiwan is not Chinese Taipei.”
The Providence University students, seated in the bleachers on Wednesday last week ahead of an international baseball game, were confronted by Chinese Taipei Baseball Association staff and security guards. The banner was boorishly torn down before the students were evicted from the stadium for displaying what the association said was a political slogan.
Unbelievable. Why is calling Taiwan by its name an action to be criticized?
It might be a necessary concession to refer to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei” in international sporting events in line with the protocol the government signed with the International Olympic Committee, but why do Taiwanese fans watching a game from the bleachers have to be reduced to using such a demeaning name?
After all, the so-called “international competition regulations” barring political slogans only applies to the confines of a match. They have no jurisdiction over spectators in the bleachers.
For example, at the 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung, which were held in accordance with the “Olympic model,” Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) welcomed all kinds of flags at the competition venues.
While some people might dismiss Wednesday’s incident as trivial or accuse the students of spoiling the mood or attempting to incite a political argument, anyone holding such positions need to be made aware that the name “Chinese Taipei” is itself political. The degrading and geographically incorrect title is the result of China’s bullying and efforts to downgrade Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Just because Taiwanese sports officials have grown numb to the seemingly harmless practice of calling Team Taiwan “Chinese Taipei,” it does not mean that Taiwanese fans must accept such injustice.
The response from Sports Administration Director Lin Jer-hung (林哲宏) was equally disappointing. He said the agency plans to set up a designated “protest area” near stadium entrances to allow fans to express their appeals, but they cannot take their “appeals” into the stadiums.
Since when is stating one’s national identity an act that must be confined to a “special zone?” Does this plan meet Tsai’s pledge to not let anyone feel that they have to apologize over the identity issue?
Given the actions of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, the Sports Administration’s response, and Tsai’s earlier comment that Minister of Health and Welfare Lin Tzou-yien’s (林奏延) reference to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei” in his speech to the WHA meeting was not belittlement, many people cannot help but doubt whether the Tsai government can protect the nation’s image internationally and break the shackles of being regarded as a province of China.
Hopefully Tsai will not turn out to be like her predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who became known for talking the talk, but not walking the walk when it came to standing up for the nation’s dignity.
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