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No Olympic format for meet: SAC

The Sports Affairs Council (SAC) has demanded that the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association drop its plan to adopt the Olympic Formula to host the yearly William Jones Cup International Tournament, which would include competing under the name “Chinese Taipei.”

“We have told the association that it cannot just think of itself and disregard national honor and dignity. It should conform to national policy,” said Yeh Ching-tung (葉景棟), director of the SAC’s Department of International Sports.

Yeh made the remarks yesterday after the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) issued a press statement saying that the SAC — and not the MAC — had turned down the association’s proposal.

The team has competed under the name “the Republic of China,” in the past and the national flag was allowed to be carried.

The Olympic Formula stipulates that Taiwan’s team can only compete as “Chinese Taipei” — the name given to Taiwan after 1979 in response to pressure from China — and may only display the Chinese Taipei Olympic Flag, which consists of the emblem of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee on a white background.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Sun Ta-chien (孫大千) had criticized the MAC for rejecting the proposal, saying that the policy would exclude the Chinese team, which was due to participate in the cup for the first time this year.

“This year will be the 30-year anniversary of the William Jones Cup. It wasn’t easy for the association to get the mainland to agree to participate in the games under the Olympic Formula and now it will have to reject the invitation thanks to the MAC’s opposition,” Sun said.

“We support the SAC’s position in this regard,“ the MAC said.

Yeh yesterday confirmed the statement by the MAC.

“Since the William Jones’ Cup is merely an invitational competition and not an official international competition, there is no need for us to adopt the Olympic Formula,” Yeh said.

Yeh said “Chinese Taipei” should only be a contingency name used when the nation runs into difficulties joining international competitions because of China’s opposition and not when a competition takes place in Taiwan.
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