The 1989 agreement did not stipulate what the media should call the Taiwanese team, and the council has no authority over the dispute, Tai said.
However, the council said in a statement yesterday that the Taiwan Affairs Office should desist from saying that the Chinese media are not required to abide by the Hong Kong agreement when referring to the Taiwanese team in Chinese, as this would encourage the Chinese media to use the incorrect translation more frequently.
“The council is concerned that the gesture will not only irritate Taiwanese, but also affect the decisions of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Po-hsiung (吳伯雄) and former KMT chairman Lien Chan (連戰) on attending the Beijing Olympics as visitors,” the statement said.
When asked for comment yesterday, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) urged both sides of the Taiwan Strait to respect each other in terms of Taiwan’s title at the Olympic Games.
However, he added that Taiwanese could not accept being referred to as Zhongguo Taibei.
“[Insistence on using Zhongguo Taibei] may damage the improvement in cross-strait relations,” he said.
KMT Legislator John Chiang (蔣孝嚴) said the nation had to insist on being addressed as “Chinese Taipei” in formal Olympic documents and in related events.
Taiwan should consider boycotting the opening ceremony of the Games should China fail to address Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei” at the Games, he said.
KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) said Taiwan should boycott the Games if its title were to be changed.
Chiu said information he had received from China showed that Beijing might extend an olive branch to Taiwan on this issue. He did not elaborate.
Additional reporting by Flora Wang and Shelley Shan
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