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Yang slams Taipei for lack of help

Cheerleading Squad for Taiwan captain Yang Hui-ju holds a press conference in Taipei yesterday after being refused entry to China. PHOTO: WANG MIN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES

Yang Hui-ju (楊蕙如), the captain of a cheerleading squad who was refused entry in Beijing on Saturday, said yesterday she regretted the Taiwanese government had not given her any support over the incident.

“Where was the Taiwanese government when a Taiwanese was treated unfairly outside the country,” Yang told a press conference.

Chinese authorities on Saturday refused Yang’s entrance to Beijing on her way to cheer the Taiwanese team at the Olympics.

“I was not going to Beijing to provoke anyone or make any trouble. I was only going to cheer for Taiwanese athletes,” Yang said.

She said the cheerleading squad had initially intended to wear yellow uniforms bearing the Taiwanese flag and the English slogan: “Taiwan Woo!” but later substituted the flag with the Olympic rings.

She said she had rejected requests for interviews before her departure to keep a low profile and that she does not look like a “terrorist.”

Yang took exception to Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu Yu-sheng’s (吳育昇) remark that she had invited humiliation upon herself, saying: “Is it wrong to bring the nation’s flag to international sports events and hope that the Taiwanese team would not be referred to as Chinese Taipei?”

At a separate event, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said the incident showed “the government’s backbone is as soft as a banana.”

Beijing not only denied Yang’s rights but also insulted Taiwan and its people, Kuan said.

In response, Wu said yesterday that Yang had sought to create a scene at Beijing Airport.

“Basically if you threaten [China] before [leaving for Beijing] and try to politicize a sports event on some level, you’re asking for it,” he said.

The Presidential Office distanced itself from the controversy yesterday, saying government agencies had already made their position clear.

Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said that the Cabinet and Sports Affairs Council (SAC) had expressed regret over the incident and that their position represented that of the administration.

Wang declined to answer questions about whether Beijing’s move was an act of political suppression, saying he had nothing to add beyond the agencies’ statements.

In addition to the Executive Yuan and the SAC, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Sunday urged Beijing to respect the rights of spectators, saying the matter could have been handled differently had the Chinese government contacted Taiwan’s emergency response task force in Beijing.

The task force includes officials from the MAC, the SAC, the Straits Exchange Foundation, the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, the National Communications Council and the National Security Council.

Meanwhile, MAC Vice Chairman Chang Liang-jen (張良任), who presides over the task force in Taipei, was quoted by the Central News Agency (CNA) yesterday as saying that Taiwanese baseball fans scheduled to travel to Beijing today to cheer for Taiwan’s baseball team in the Olympics “will not likely be rejected entry, as far as I know.”

Chang said that since the Yang incident, Beijing has promised to notify the Taiwanese delegation in Beijing before making any similar decisions, the CNA reported.

Additional reporting by Flora Wang and CNA

Also See: EDITORIAL: KMT speaks with a Beijing accent
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