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.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS