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KMT denies Beijing name allegations

The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) dismissed allegations yesterday that it had agreed to Beijing’s arrangement of the Olympics opening march in exchange for Chinese media referring to Taiwan’s Olympic team as Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北, Chinese Taipei).

“China’s decision not to refer to Taiwan as Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北, or Taipei, China) was an act of goodwill after the KMT asked Beijing to respect the reality of the situation,” Chang Jung-kung (張榮恭), director of the KMT’s Mainland Affairs Division, said yesterday.

Chang made the remarks in response to a story in Next Magazine that Wu had reached a consensus with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) during a meeting in May that Taiwan would agree to the athletes’ march based on the number of strokes in the first character of each country or territory’s name in simplified Chinese.

Based on a protocol signed in 1981 between the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the “Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee” was abbreviated as “TPE” and listed under the “T” section in the IOC’s directory and in the march.

In return, China’s official news outlets would use Zhonghua Taibei, the official title used by Taiwan at the Olympics, rather than Zhongguo Taibei, during the Beijing Olympics.

Chang, who had accompanied Wu to attend the Wu-Hu meeting in May, said the magazine’s accusations were groundless and added the chairman also dismissed the allegations in China.

“[The story] is groundless. There’s absolutely no basis to it,” Chang quoted Wu as saying in the statement.

Chang said that the Olympic opening procession was arranged by the Beijing Organizing Committee and had nothing to do with the Wu-Hu meeting or the KMT.

At a separate setting yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) told a press conference that Wu should explain to the public whether he met Hu in May to arrange the title of Taiwan’s Olympic team and the placements for the opening march.

Additional reporting by Rich Chang

Also See: EDITORIAL: The show on the sidelines in Beijing
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