Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Chinese sports officials seized the Republic of China flags from two Taipei swimming champions attending the International Children's Games at Bangkok after they wrapped them round their shoulders as they walked toward a stage to collect their gold medals on Saturday, Ma said.
Chang Fen-fen (
PHOTO COURTESY OF TAIPEI CITY GOVERNMENT
According to King, the Beijing team official did not want to lose face, and replied, "You left us with no other choice."
"Is violence your only choice?" King said he replied.
To this, King said, the female members of the Beijing team screamed "Yes!"
"I don't know why they had to act like a bunch of snot-nosed purse-snatchers. How they behaved was disgusting and ugly," King said at CKS International Airport upon his return to Taipei last night.
He urged all participating nation's to protest the assaults.
"It was a regrettable incident," Ma said. "It was an unfriendly ... brutal and impolite gesture."
Ma did not identify the Chinese officials or the athletes.
Most sports organizations do not bar athletes from wearing flags other than those formally sanctioned, Ma said.
Taiwan participates at most international sports events under the name of "Chinese Taipei" as the nation is prevented from using its official name because of China's objections.
The International Children's Games are held annually to promote friendship among youths aged 12 to 15.
Meanwhile, former premier Frank Hsieh (
"Such an act of violence should not be accepted. We should lodge a solemn protest. We hope the Taipei City Government can properly deal with the incident," he said.
One Taiwanese athlete who was able to keep her flag was Li Ya-wen, who won the gold medal in the B-class Taekwondo contest.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS