Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday told Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) to continue infrastructure work needed for the East Asian Youth Games, despite the East Asian Olympic Committee’s (EAOC) decision to revoke Taichung’s right to host next year’s Games.
He also slammed China for the political suppression of sports and called on the public to show support for Taichung.
At a meeting in Beijing on Tuesday, EAOC chairman Liu Peng (劉鵬) and six of the eight committee members voted to remove Taichung as the host city, reportedly based on “political factors.”
Photo: CNA
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday said that the move was related to a referendum campaign in Taiwan to have the nation take part in international sporting events — including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — as “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei.”
“China is not willing to abide by the normal practice of putting sports above politics,” Lai said as he made an inspection tour of Taichung International Airport.
Beijing’s political suppression of sports is an infringement on Taichung’s rights and grossly unfair to the 2,500 athletes from the nine countries and regions that were to take part in the Games, he said.
The Executive Yuan unequivocally condemns China’s barbarism and fully supports Taichung’s efforts to seek redress, Lai said.
The Taichung City Government later said in a news release that Lin would hold an international news conference today in Taipei and the city would file an appeal to the EAOC.
Lin has called on the public to show unity and make it known to the world the harm that China has inflicted on international sports, the city government said.
It also called on the EAOC to restore Taichung’s rights to host the event and respect the right of Taiwanese athletes to participate in the Games.
In related news, the Team Taiwan Campaign for 2020 Tokyo Olympics held an evening rally in Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) area to rally support for its referendum petition.
Chi Cheng (紀政), who took part in the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won a bronze medal in the women’s 80m hurdles in 1968, initiated the referendum proposal, saying that she had participated in all three Games under the names Taiwan or Formosa and the nation should not be subjected to the insulting name of “Chinese Taipei.”
By jeopardizing the East Asian Youth Games, Beijing has not only harmed Taiwan, but also the right of every athlete who was planning to compete in them next year, petition cosponsor Wang Yi-kai (王奕凱) said.
The signature drive for the referendum appears to have received a boost from the cancelation of Taichung’s right to host next year’s competition, according to one man’s experience.
Wang Hsi-ho (王溪河), 71, who has been collecting petition signatures at a stand in Tainan’s Dadong Night Market (大東夜市) since last month, said the 172 signatures he collected overnight represented a 10-fold increase of what he would otherwise expect.
Many young people and couples have been among the new signers and some have volunteered to work for the organizers, he said, adding that he has never before sensed passion about the issue from the nightmarket visitors.
Additional reporting by Tsai Wen-chu
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS