Netizens slammed the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) and the Tourism Bureau over their “friendly reminders” to Taiwanese travelers planning to attend the Olympic Games in London not to bring Republic of China (ROC) flags with them, saying the move was “self-degrading” to Taiwanese sovereignty.
Last week, the Taipei Association of Travel Agents (TATA) posted an announcement on its Web site, informing its members that if they are taking tour groups to attend the Olympic Games in London to be aware of the “Olympic model.”
The “Olympic model” refers to an agreement reached between Taiwan and the International Olympic Committee that only the name “Chinese Taipei” — not “Taiwan” or “ROC” — can be used at Olympic venues and that only the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee flag — not the ROC flag — can be used at Olympic events.
“According to regulations, items prohibited in the venues include flags of non-competing countries (our Olympic team uses the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee flag),” the announcement said.
“In order to prevent unnecessary disputes because travelers are not aware of the regulations, please contact the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee to send a representative to explain the Olympic model to those taking part in Olympic Games tour groups,” it added.
The announcement was delivered to the organization from the SAC through the Tourism Bureau.
“I guess this is what people would call ‘self-castration,’” netizen Alain Chen said about the announcement on his Facebook page.
“If you look down on yourself, how do you expect others to respect you?” asked Jennifer Lin, another Facebook user.
Mimiko (米果), a writer, posted a photo that she took during a World Baseball Classic (WBC) games in 2009 in Tokyo, in which a group of Taiwanese baseball fans held up a giant ROC flag in the audience on Facebook.
“I don’t know what the announcement is supposed to mean, but I know that in the WBC preliminary games of the Asia region, the organizers also applied the Olympic model. The Taiwanese national team competed under the name ‘Chinese Taipei’ and used the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee flag, but this was what happened in the audience when the Hymn to the National Flag was sung,” she wrote. “The tour guides who took the fans to the game didn’t do anything, the security of the Tokyo Dome didn’t do anything and neither did the organizers — why is the Tourism Bureau so afraid?”
Responding to the criticism, SAC Deputy Minister Chen Yun-lien (陳雲蓮) said it was routine for the council to forward regulations on Olympic Games to the Tourism Bureau, and that it was only a friendly reminder, denying that the act was “self-degrading.”
The announcement was removed from the TATA Web site yesterday afternoon.
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
Taiwan is still in the process of assessing the possibility of recruiting workers from Eswatini, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, adding that its goal is to help Eswatini upgrade its vocational training centers. If there are plans to recruit workers from Eswatini, safeguarding national security, protecting public health and ensuring the employment rights of Taiwanese would be prerequisites, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference. Key considerations would also include filling labor shortages in specific industries, and fostering bilateral professional and technical exchanges, he said. Yen was asked about the progress of labor
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
RSS