Chinese performers at an international folkdance festival in Israel touched off a diplomatic flap earlier this month by snatching a Taiwanese flag during the festival and bullying the Taiwanese troupe in attendance as they tried to protect their flag, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday.
Performing at the "22nd International Folkdance Festival" in Israel by invitation, a Hsinchu-based folkdance troupe was forced to protect its national flag as culture gave way to politics and dance to violence, said Antonio Chen (陳英賢), the ministry's director of West Asian Affairs.
"Before, it was mainly just the Chinese government trying to suppress Taiwan through diplomatic channels," Chen said at a routine press briefing yesterday. "Now, it's Chinese citizens directly bullying Taiwanese citizens."
enraged
Ministry spokesman David Wang (王建業) told reporters that Chinese dancers became enraged during a performance in the Israeli city of Afula on July 4 after seeing the Taiwanese flag displayed on-stage alongside the national flags of other participating foreign troupes.
The livid Chinese dancers then snatched the flag, creating a ruckus that quickly snowballed into a diplomatic incident as Israeli police were called in to restore order, Chen said.
"Our dancers were shocked and angry," he said.
The brouhaha escalated after the Taiwanese troupe, "doing as any civilized national would," began waving the Taiwanese flag during their performance to protest the Chinese dancers' "uncivilized behavior," Wang said yesterday.
The ministry said that one of its representatives on site served as a bodyguard for the troupe as it tried to fend off attacks by the Chinese dancers.
At that point, Israeli police arrived at the scene and confiscated both the Chinese and Taiwanese troupes' flags.
The Chinese embassy in Israel pressured event organizers into forbidding the Taiwanese troupe from waving its flag during a performance scheduled for the following day -- a move that led to the Taiwanese troupe's withdrawal from the festival, it said.
The ministry later released a statement stating that "the foreign affairs ministry strongly condemns China's brutal political interference in a cultural exchange event and deeply regrets that organizers didn't adhere to just and fair principles in its treatment of Taiwan's troupe."
Chen said yesterday that Taiwan would request that in similar future international events Chinese and Taiwanese participants be separated.
Chinese participants at international events are known to have assaulted or bullied Taiwanese in attendance.
At the International Children's Games in Thailand last year, Chinese sports officials yanked Taiwanese flags off the shoulders of two Taipei swimming champions as they walked toward a stage to collect their gold medals. Other foreign winners wore their respective national flags during the ceremony.
In January, Minister of Education Tu Cheng-sheng's (
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
RSS