Taiwan’s representative to this year’s Miss Earth contest yesterday expressed gratitude to her fans after she was ejected from the pageant for refusing to wear a sash that read “Chinese Taipei” and instead wearing one marked “Taiwan ROC.”
“I feel very appreciative to all the people who have encouraged me. Now that I have been suspended from the contest and have returned to my hotel, I have had more time to think it over,” the 22-year-old Ting Wen-yin (丁文茵) said on Facebook.
“Despite all these difficulties, I still feel grateful that this contest made me more mature and gave me a broader view of the world,” she wrote.
Photo: Screenshot from Facebook
Ting, who was representing Taiwan at the Miss Earth pageant in Vienna, two days earlier revealed that she originally wore a sash given to her by the organizers upon her arrival in Vienna that read “Taiwan ROC” — referring to Taiwan’s formal name, the Republic of China.
However, the organizers later asked Ting to replace her sash with another that read “Chinese Taipei” — the name used in most international events because of pressure from China — claiming that the original sash was misprinted by the event staff, Ting said.
Insisting that she was born in Taiwan and was representing Taiwan, Ting refused to change her sash and was banned from attending the pageant on Monday, while photographers were told not to take her picture, she added.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Eleanor Wang (王珮玲) said that Ting was forced to replace her sash due to pressure from China.
Wang said that Taiwan’s Chinese International Beauty Pageants Association (中華國際選美發展交流協會), which sent Ting to Vienna, told the ministry that Ting would continue to compete in the pageant using the name “Chinese Taipei.”
Founded in 2001, the Miss Earth pageant is held to promote environmental awareness, empower women worldwide and support international environmental organizations.
This year’s competition, which had 87 contestants, runs from Wednesday last week to Dec. 5, according to the event’s Web site.
The winner of the pageant is to serve as an ambassador in environmental protection campaigns worldwide.
In his National Day Rally speech on Sunday, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財) quoted the Taiwanese song One Small Umbrella (一支小雨傘) to describe his nation’s situation. Wong’s use of such a song shows Singapore’s familiarity with Taiwan’s culture and is a perfect reflection of exchanges between the two nations, Representative to Singapore Tung Chen-yuan (童振源) said yesterday in a post on Facebook. Wong quoted the song, saying: “As the rain gets heavier, I will take care of you, and you,” in Mandarin, using it as a metaphor for Singaporeans coming together to face challenges. Other Singaporean politicians have also used Taiwanese songs
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
US President Donald Trump on Friday said that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the remarks in an interview with Fox News, ahead of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. “I will tell you, you know, you have a very similar thing with President Xi of China and Taiwan, but I don’t believe there’s any way it’s going to happen as long as I’m here. We’ll see,” Trump said during an interview on Fox News’ Special Report. “He told me: ‘I will never do
RSS