Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) expressed appreciation yesterday for Beijing’s “goodwill” over the controversy surrounding the title of Taiwan’s Olympic team and said he would attend next month’s Olympics in Beijing.
“I am glad about the outcome and I can tell you that I will accept Beijing’s invitation to attend the Olympic Games,” Wu said at the KMT’s Taipei City branch.
Wu declined to comment on allegations that Beijing had made promises on the title following KMT negotiations with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) via a KMT-CCP platform, bypassing the Mainland Affairs Council’s authority.
“We have made it clear that the KMT will do whatever it can to help as long as it is in the national interest,” Wu said.
KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) confirmed on Friday that Wu had made clear the party’s position on the Taiwanese Olympics team being referred to as Zhonghua Taibei (Chinese Taipei, 中華台北) — Taiwan’s official title at the Olympics — to Beijing via KMT-CCP talks and that the party believed Beijing’s move was a positive response to that request.
Wu is scheduled to travel to Beijing to attend the opening ceremony on Aug. 8 and the Taiwanese baseball team’s first match against the Netherlands on Aug. 13.
The KMT had previously said it would boycott the Games if Chinese authorities insisted on referring to the Taiwanese team as Zhongguo Taibei (Taipei, China 中國台北).
In its Chinese-language reports on Thursday, the China News Service used Zhonghua Taibei, rather than Zhongguo Taibei.
The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), however, said yesterday that based on the principle of mutual respect, the government should request that China call Taiwan “Republic of China” (ROC) or “Taiwan,” as doing otherwise would not extend much goodwill.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said Taiwan was referred to as “Taiwan” in all documentation and name plates during the Rome Olympics in 1960, as well as in the Tokyo and Mexico Olympics in 1964 and 1968 respectively, but that the KMT had lodged a protest against this practice with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and insisted on Taiwan being referred to as “Republic of China” or “China.”
After the China seat at the UN was given to the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1971, the PRC also received the China seat at the IOC and Taiwan was forced to accept the title “Chinese Taipei” and to replace its national flag and anthem in all Olympic contexts.
Chen said that if the Ma administration feels that China is extending its goodwill by asking its media to refer to Taiwan as Chinese Taipei, it should take the opportunity to request that the Olympic Committee call Taiwan the “Republic of China” or “Taiwan.”
Chen also said that if China really had feelings of goodwill toward Taiwan, it should stop pressuring Taiwan and allow international sports competitions to take place here.
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