The Sports Affairs Council (SAC) yesterday said the government never wavered in its support for Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君), adding that Yang and the Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association (CTTA) had different opinions regarding an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) of her disqualification at the Asian Games last year.
Yang said last month she had decided to withdraw her appeal to the CAS so she could focus on training for next year’s Summer Games in London.
However, former CTTA chairman Chen Chien-ping (陳建平) said in an article in the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday that Yang was forced to drop the appeal and sign a proxy enabling the CTTA to handle the lawsuit on her behalf under threat from association officials.
Joining the attacks, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) accused President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and CTTA chairman Angus Hsu (許安進) of negligence and intimidation.
DPP spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the DPP had evidence proving that Hsu had pressured Yang to withdraw her appeal.
Hsu visited Seoul in April to negotiate with the World Taekwondo Federation about the case and reported to SAC Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) on May 17, Chen said, adding that Yang made more than a dozen phone calls to SAC Deputy Minister Steven Chen (陳士魁) for help after her June 6 meeting with Hsu.
To compel Yang to withdraw her appeal, Hsu threatened Yang by saying that her place on the Olympic taekwondo team, the position of her boyfriend and coach Liu Tsung-ta (劉聰達), as well as training expenses, would all be at stake, Chen Chi-mai said.
Hsu played a key role in the withdrawal decision, Chen Chi-mai said, because “Yang never mentioned it before Hsu’s visit to South Korea.”
Steven Chen told a press conference yesterday morning that Yang had informed the council of her meeting with Hsu and other CTTA officials on June 6, but the deputy minister said Yang and CTTA officials had differing views on the appeal.
“In the meeting, Hsu tried to talk Yang into withdrawing the appeal, but Yang was unwilling to do so for various reasons,” Steven Chen said. “Each side stood their ground. Yang felt that she would not be able to leave the meeting if she did not sign the proxy, which she eventually signed.”
Steven Chen said the council did not recognize the proxy and wanted to hear from Yang herself. He said the council had been in contact with Yang between that time and the day she announced her decision to withdraw the appeal.
“I spoke to her on the phone before the press conference and told her not to take it,” Steven Chen said, adding that the council also told Hsu it could not force her to drop the appeal.
In a press conference yesterday afternoon, Chen Chien-ping stood by his statement.
“If you were told that you may not be able to represent your country to compete in the Olympics next year and your boyfriend [Liu] may not be recruited as a coach for the Olympics, could this not seen a threat?” Chen Chien-ping said. “Why did she cry if she was not under threat?”
Chen Chien-ping said CTTA officials had held more than one meeting with Yang, adding that each meeting lasted about six to seven hours.
“She finally could not take it anymore and asked SAC officials to stand with her so that the CTTA would not make her sign it, but the SAC officials said it was beyond their jurisdiction to do so,” Chen Chien-ping said.
The former CTTA chairman said he was not afraid of being sued because one of the participants in the meeting had recorded the conversations.
Hsu said last night he would sue Chen Chien-ping over his statements, which he said had damaged his reputation. Hsu denied the CTTA had forced Yang to drop the lawsuit.
Hsu said Yang entrusted the CTTA with the lawsuit so that she could concentrate on her training. Because of the proxy signed by Yang, Hsu said that he was able to ask for opinions from the 225 representatives of taekwondo associations nationwide — 207 of which said in written statements that the association should withdraw the appeal.
“We dropped the appeal after receiving an official apology from the Asian Taekwondo Union,” Hsu said. “I am the CTTA chairman and I cannot take the chance of scuttling our right to participate in [future] competitions.”
Additional reporting by Chris Wang
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary