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Games spectators allowed flags

Spectators attending the World Games will be allowed to carry the national flag to cheer the nation’s athletes, an official from the Kaohsiung Organizing Committee (KOC) said yesterday.

Kaohsiung City Bureau of Cultural Affairs Director-General Shih Jhe (史哲), who is also convener of the KOC’s Department of Culture and Tourism, told reporters that the committee would allow sports fans to carry items that are permitted by the Chinese Professional Baseball League, including flags of different nations.

The committee will treat all national flags equally no matter which country they represent as long as the rights of other spectators are not compromised, Shih said.

He said that conflict between viewers of different nationalities was unlikely because spectators interested in the games are more moderate compared with those attending other international sports events.

Whether the nation’s flag will be allowed inside the venues of the World Games has been the focus of media attention as sports fans bearing the flag of the nation have been either denied entry to major international sports events or driven out of venues on numerous occasions.

During the Beijing Olympic Games last year, Yang Hui-ju (楊蕙如), the captain of the Cheerleading Squad for Taiwan, was refused entry to Beijing on her way to cheer for the Taiwanese team as the squad had initially planned to wear yellow uniforms bearing the Taiwanese flag and the English slogan “Taiwan Woo.”

Shih said his answer had been positive no matter how many times reporters had asked the question, adding that he was sure “the flag of the Republic of China will meet China’s national flag” during the games.

Meanwhile, Kaohsiung City’s historic Chungtu Pottery Factory (中都窯場), which has been closed for maintenance, will be open to the public next month for the World Games, the bureau said yesterday.

The factory was an important brick manufacturer between the Japanese colonial era and the 1970s.

It will be open between 9am and 5pm every day next month, with seven free tours per day from 9:30am to 4:30pm, the bureau said.
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