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Taiwan prepared for Olympic word game: Premier Liu

Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said yesterday that the government was fully prepared for any possible schemes by China aimed at belittling Taiwan in the upcoming Beijing Olympic Games.

The government has worked out a series of contingency measures to respond to scenarios in which China attempts to downgrade Taiwan’s status during the Olympics by referring to the Taiwan Olympic team as Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北), or “Taipei, China,” which implies that Taiwan is part of China, Liu said.

He made the remarks during a visit to a national athletic training center in Zuoying, Kaohsiung City, where top-notch Taiwanese athletes receive intensive training in the run-up to the 2008 Olympics, scheduled to open in Beijing on Aug. 8.

Liu, however, did not elaborate on what form the measures would take.

STATUS

The Democratic Progressive Party last week accused two Chinese media outlets — Chinese Central Television and Xinhua news agency — of downgrading Taiwan’s status by referring to the Taiwanese Olympic team as Zhongguo Taibei instead of Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北), or “Chinese Taipei.”

“Chinese Taipei” is the name Taiwanese national teams use when taking part in international competitions, based on an agreement with the International Olympic Committee in 1981.

BOYCOTT

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) said last week that the party would support a proposal to boycott the Beijing Olympics if the title of the Taiwanese Olympic team is changed to Zhongguo Taibei or “Taipei, China.”

KMT Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said that if the Chinese authorities respect Olympic protocol and refer to the Taiwanese team as Zhonghua Taibei or “Chinese Taipei” as previously agreed, Wu Poh-hsiung will travel to Beijing to attend the opening of the Games and that Taiwan’s baseball team would play its first match against the Netherlands on Aug. 13.

“We will boycott the Olympics if Beijing maneuvers to belittle Taiwan by playing word games,” Wu Den-yih said.



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