Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday said that the city would soon submit a petition to the East Asian Olympic Committee (EAOC) over its decision to revoke Taichung’s right to host the first East Asian Youth Games next year.
Expressing regret and dissatisfaction with the decision, Lin said that the city would submit the petition after consulting with the Sports Administration and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee.
The EAOC on Wednesday nullified its host city contract with Taichung, one day after the committee voted to cancel next year’s games at an extraordinary council meeting in Beijing.
Photo: Ou Su-mei, Taipei Times
The meeting was called by the representative from China, which is unhappy about a proposed referendum in Taiwan that seeks to have the nation take part in international sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, under the name “Taiwan” instead of “Chinese Taipei,” which has been used and authorized by the International Olympic Committee since 1981.
Taichung is to base its appeal of the EAOC’s decision on four arguments, Lin said.
First, the EAOC’s decision to cancel the Taichung games violates the spirit of the Olympic charter to promote sporting events in East Asia, he said.
Second, Taichung was not informed either before or after Tuesday’s meeting in Beijing, and the city has no knowledge of which EAOC regulations it has breached, he said.
Over the past three years, the city has complied with its contract with the committee and has followed its rules in preparation for the event, he said.
Third, as Taichung officials were not present at the Beijing meeting, they had no chance to explain or answer relevant questions, he said.
Fourth, Taichung received notification from the EAOC on Wednesday about the cancelation of the games, but the committee provided no concrete reasons, which contravenes Section 24 stipulated of their contract, he said.
“We are not fully respected as a signing party,” Lin said.
Taichung’s objection has gained support and encouragement from Taiwanese based on the belief that politics should not interfere with sports, Lin said.
“We will side with the athletes and defend their rights in line with the Olympic spirit,” he said, adding that Taichung would seek support from other EAOC members after submitting the petition.
The East Asian Youth Games, originally set to take place in Taichung in August next year, were expected to draw more than 2,000 athletes aged 14 to 18 from nine countries and territories.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai