More than 50 athletes and coaches yesterday urged the public to vote “no” to the referendum on whether Taiwan should compete under the name “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei” in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
The news conference at the Sports Administration was organized by the Chinese Taipei Olympians Association, formed by athletes who have represented the nation at the Olympics.
It was also attended by some of the nation’s most famous athletes, including 1988 Taekwondo gold medalist Chen Yi-an (陳怡安), two-time weightlifting Olympic gold medalist Hsu Shu-ching (許淑淨), and Yang Chun-han (楊俊瀚) and Cheng Chao-tsun (鄭兆村), who were gold medalists at last year’s Taipei Summer Universiade, as well as the nation’s No. 1 men’s badminton player and Asian Games medalist Chou Tien-chen (周天成).
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Association secretary-general Tu Tai-hsing (杜台興) was a shooter and was chosen to represent the nation six times at the Olympics.
However, he was not able to compete in the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games, because the nation was not allowed to attend for political reasons, and the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games, because the government decided to withdraw.
Those who proposed the name-change referendum did not conduct a survey among athletes first, Tu said.
Photo: Peter Lo, Taipei Times
Chou questioned the claim made by name-change advocates who say that the result of the referendum would not hurt athletes’ chances to compete in the Games.
“It is like a dentist who tells you that there will not be any pain when he pulls out your tooth. Well, the pain is borne by the patient, not the dentist,” Chou said.
Shooter Lin Yi-chun (林怡君), who was chosen for the Olympic national team four times, also opposes the name-change movement.
“We athletes are clear about the difference between our national flag and the Olympic flag,” Lin said.
“However, the only thing that can actually protect athletes’ right to compete is the 1981 agreement signed between the International Olympic Committee [IOC] and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee [CTOC] in Lausanne, Switzerland,” Lin said.
The Lausanne Agreement states that Taiwan can compete under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
The administration’s position has always been to protect athletes’ right to compete, to ensure that the CTOC’s membership at the IOC is not affected and to abide by the Olympic Charter, Sports Administration Deputy Director-General Wang Shui-wen (王水文) said.
“Taiwan is a democratic country and the government has followed the law in hosting a referendum so that the public’s opinions can be expressed. Nevertheless, the government still needs to follow the rules set by the IOC,” he said.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2