The 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, opened in spectacular fashion on Feb. 9, with US Vice President Mike Pence, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and leaders of many other nations in attendance at the opening ceremony.
Thanks to the popularity of South Korean TV dramas, many Taiwanese must have had a feeling of familiarity as they watched the performances, with echoes of K-dramas like The Great Jang-Geum played out in icy sub-zero temperatures.
Although there were mixed reviews for the horse-riding dance to the tune of the South Korean hit song Gangnam Style during the opening ceremony, it did add some fun and a popular flavor to the program.
After all, the Winter Olympics are not really Asian people’s scene, since many of the sports events involved are ones that most of us will never get to try.
Of course, the big contingent of North Korean athletes, as well as the attendance of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s younger sister Kim Yo-jung, were the biggest focus of attention, but they also provided an unusual taste of political competition on the sports field.
The sad part is that, despite South Koreans having worked hard for several years to create the Winter Olympics, the nation’s formal title — the Republic of Korea — was nowhere to be seen when the games finally took place, and its national flag — the Taeguki — was not raised during the Games.
When US TV station NBC broadcast the ceremony, it mentioned several successes that South Korea has achieved in the field of science and technology, but also said that there was no “North Korea” or “South Korea” at this event, but rather a single team representing one Korea. After all those years of diligent preparation, it must have been difficult for the host country to bear these changes that were made after political forces intervened just a few weeks before the event.
This brings to mind a number of incidents connected with Taiwan. Several Taiwanese civic groups have launched the Team Taiwan Campaign for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, calling for a referendum aimed at replacing the clumsy title of “Chinese Taipei” used at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events with the straightforward name “Taiwan.”
In the US, Taiwanese Americans have launched a campaign for the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in the US to be renamed as the “Taiwan representative office,” which would not just reflect the will of Taiwanese, but also signify recognition by the international community.
The same can be said of the 2016 incident when US company Costco wrote a letter to the Formosan Association for Public Affairs, stating: “As you probably know, we have retail locations in Taiwan and very much consider it a country.”
Similarly, US Web site Yahoo Sports, in its Winter Olympics medals table, uses the name “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei,” showing recognition by international media that Taiwan is not part of China, so the name “Chinese Taipei” does not fit.
On Feb. 8, the Intelligent Community Forum, a global network, announced this year’s top seven intelligent communities, with three Taiwanese cities — Taoyuan, Chiayi and Tainan — among those selected. This is something for Taiwanese to be proud of and the forum’s Web site clearly states that these three cities are in Taiwan.
Indeed, Taiwan is our nation, and all the hard work and the resulting successes belong to Taiwanese.
Heaven helps those who help themselves, so go for it, Taiwan!
Mike Kuo is president of the Formosan Association for Public Affairs.
Translated by Julian Clegg
As the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) reach the point of confidence that they can start and win a war to destroy the democratic culture on Taiwan, any future decision to do so may likely be directly affected by the CCP’s ability to promote wars on the Korean Peninsula, in Europe, or, as most recently, on the Indian subcontinent. It stands to reason that the Trump Administration’s success early on May 10 to convince India and Pakistan to deescalate their four-day conventional military conflict, assessed to be close to a nuclear weapons exchange, also served to
The recent aerial clash between Pakistan and India offers a glimpse of how China is narrowing the gap in military airpower with the US. It is a warning not just for Washington, but for Taipei, too. Claims from both sides remain contested, but a broader picture is emerging among experts who track China’s air force and fighter jet development: Beijing’s defense systems are growing increasingly credible. Pakistan said its deployment of Chinese-manufactured J-10C fighters downed multiple Indian aircraft, although New Delhi denies this. There are caveats: Even if Islamabad’s claims are accurate, Beijing’s equipment does not offer a direct comparison
After India’s punitive precision strikes targeting what New Delhi called nine terrorist sites inside Pakistan, reactions poured in from governments around the world. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) issued a statement on May 10, opposing terrorism and expressing concern about the growing tensions between India and Pakistan. The statement noticeably expressed support for the Indian government’s right to maintain its national security and act against terrorists. The ministry said that it “works closely with democratic partners worldwide in staunch opposition to international terrorism” and expressed “firm support for all legitimate and necessary actions taken by the government of India
Taiwan aims to elevate its strategic position in supply chains by becoming an artificial intelligence (AI) hub for Nvidia Corp, providing everything from advanced chips and components to servers, in an attempt to edge out its closest rival in the region, South Korea. Taiwan’s importance in the AI ecosystem was clearly reflected in three major announcements Nvidia made during this year’s Computex trade show in Taipei. First, the US company’s number of partners in Taiwan would surge to 122 this year, from 34 last year, according to a slide shown during CEO Jensen Huang’s (黃仁勳) keynote speech on Monday last week.