Two DPP city councilors questioned the true colors of Taipei City Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
City councilors Duan Yi-kang (
In the lead up to the AFC Women's Championship, held from Dec. 4 to 11, Ma asked soccer fans not to bring the national flag to the games. That upset many Taiwanese, who brought the flags to games in protest.
At a press conference yesterday, fans who attended the games said it was unfair that Taiwanese weren't allowed to wave their national flag at a sporting event held in Taipei.
"In the stadium, policemen came over and forcefully tried to snatch away my flag," said one of the fans, who wished to remain anonymous. "They ended up breaking the pole off my flag."
The tournament was held in accordance with the rules of the International Olympic Committee, which bars fans from displaying flags of countries that are not members of the organization. Taiwan participates in the Olympics under the name "Chinese Taipei" and has a separate flag for Olympic events.
"The [policemen] told us that by waving the flag we were doing harm to our country," said another fan at the press conference. "That was ridiculous and very disappointing to hear from a government official."
Officials have argued that if the flag isn't banned at international sporting matches in Taiwan, China will pressure event organizers not to hold tournaments in Taiwan.
"It's incredibly frustrating. We are not allowed to wave our national flag in our own country, but the Chinese can wave their flag," another fan said.
Duan said the city government had ignored a statement issued by the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, which said that "fans who want to carry their national flag into the stadium must be allowed to do so under Olympic rules."
The councilors said that Ma had compromised Taiwan's dignity and forced policemen to act like "servants of China."
Ma said he was simply following requirements set by the Chinese Taipei Soccer Association, which follows Olympic rules. "The city government had no other motive than to maintain order."
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
EUROPEAN TARGETS: The planned Munich center would support TSMC’s European customers to design high-performance, energy-efficient chips, an executive said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday said that it plans to launch a new research-and-development (R&D) center in Munich, Germany, next quarter to assist customers with chip design. TSMC Europe president Paul de Bot made the announcement during a technology symposium in Amsterdam on Tuesday, the chipmaker said. The new Munich center would be the firm’s first chip designing center in Europe, it said. The chipmaker has set up a major R&D center at its base of operations in Hsinchu and plans to create a new one in the US to provide services for major US customers,
BEIJING’S ‘PAWN’: ‘We, as Chinese, should never forget our roots, history, culture,’ Want Want Holdings general manager Tsai Wang-ting said at a summit in China The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Want Want China Times Media Group (旺旺中時媒體集團) for making comments at the Cross-Strait Chinese Culture Summit that it said have damaged Taiwan’s sovereignty, adding that it would investigate if the group had colluded with China in the matter and contravened cross-strait regulations. The council issued a statement after Want Want Holdings (旺旺集團有限公司) general manager Tsai Wang-ting (蔡旺庭), the third son of the group’s founder, Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明), said at the summit last week that the group originated in “Chinese Taiwan,” and has developed and prospered in “the motherland.” “We, as Chinese, should never
‘A SURVIVAL QUESTION’: US officials have been urging the opposition KMT and TPP not to block defense spending, especially the special defense budget, an official said The US plans to ramp up weapons sales to Taiwan to a level exceeding US President Donald Trump’s first term as part of an effort to deter China as it intensifies military pressure on the nation, two US officials said on condition of anonymity. If US arms sales do accelerate, it could ease worries about the extent of Trump’s commitment to Taiwan. It would also add new friction to the tense US-China relationship. The officials said they expect US approvals for weapons sales to Taiwan over the next four years to surpass those in Trump’s first term, with one of them saying