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Games fans told not to show flags

People planning to watch the Olympics Games in Beijing were reminded yesterday to follow the rules when carrying national flags.

The Sports Affairs Council (SAC) said the Beijing Olympics Committee had printed the regulations on the back of tickets for the Games.

International Olympic Committee (IOC) regulations stipulate that spectators are forbidden from carrying flags that do not legally represent any participating country. Nor can they carry any type of flag or banner exceeding 2m in length and 1m in width.

The regulations also ban spectators from wearing clothes that contain patterns or color combinations similar to flags that are not recognized by the IOC.

Violators will not be allowed to enter the venue or will be asked to leave the venue immediately. They may even be arrested, depending on the severity of the circumstances.

The council also published a pamphlet listing rules for Games spectators and has distributed 600 copies to different organizations.

Council statistics show that close to 200 Taiwanese tourists are scheduled to watch the Olympics Games this year.

Commissioners from Taichung County, Miaoli County, Nantou County and Kinmen County, as well as the mayor of Keelung, will lead groups to attend the opening ceremony in Beijing.

Several sports organizations, such as the Chinese Taipei Amateur Softball Association, have also formed groups to cheer for the Chinese Taipei teams.

Taiwan’s special status in the international community means the IOC only recognizes Taiwan’s Olympics Flag, not the national flag.

Some supporters, however, have indicated in online forums they would find creative ways to display the national flag.

Chou Rui (周瑞), deputy director of SAC’s International Sports Department, said the council was aware that some fans had said they would wear headscarves printed with a national flag, while others said they would wear T-shirts displaying different parts of the national flag and sit together to display it, he said.

Chou said that regulations clearly stated that any behavior intended to disrupt the order of the event or violated Chinese law would not be tolerated, and how China’s public security office will define such behavior was unknown.

The council could only ask the public to avoid rocking the boat, he said.

Chou said the regulations governing spectators’ carrying national flags were strictly enforced during the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 and again in Sydney in 2000.

He said that two Taiwanese students studying in the US were asked to leave the stadium in 1996 for insisting on waving the national flag, and that they both faced lawsuits afterward.

Chou said that supporters from Taiwan could bring the nation’s Olympic Flag when they attend events in which Taiwan’s team is involved, but doing so when attending games involving other countries would be regarded as disruptive behavior.

In related news, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Wu Poh-hsiung (吳伯雄) will embark on a nine-day trip to China today and attend the Games’ opening ceremony tomorrow.

KMT Spokesman Lee Chien-jung (李建榮) said Wu would arrive in Beijing tonight and attend the opening ceremony tomorrow. He will watch the Taiwanese baseball team’s first match against the Netherlands next Wednesday, accompanied by Jia Qinglin (賈慶林), chairman of the People’s Political Consultative Conference.

Additional reporting by Mo Yan-chih
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