The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee urged local governments and domestic sporting event organizers to refrain from agreeing to anything not included in a 30-year-old international agreement when attending or hosting international sport events.
The committee said sports organizations and governments should not agree to things not listed in the agreement between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Lausanne and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee.
The agreement, which determines Taiwan’s name, flag and logo in IOC-related events, was signed by late IOC chairman Juan Antonio Samaranch and Shen Chia-ming (沈家銘), then-president of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, in 1981.
According to Olympic protocol, which has been the principle for Taiwan’s participation in international sports events since 1981, Taiwan can attend and host events under the name Chinese Taipei, but the Republic of China (ROC) flag cannot appear on team apparel.
Also, the country’s anthem cannot be played when its athletes win a medal.
However, anything not covered in the accord is fair game. For example, the organizers do not need to promise that spectators in the stands will refrain from waving ROC flags, because this is not in the agreement, committee president Thomas Tsai (蔡辰威) said.
The issue was hotly debated in 2001 when the Taipei City Government prohibited local fans from waving the ROC flag at Asian Women’s Cup soccer games because it had reached a consensus with the organizer.
The agreement, often referred to as the Olympic committee formula, was established to solve a sovereignty dispute between Taiwan and China in international sporting events.
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