China’s hosting of cross-strait sports competitions while strangling Taiwan’s efforts to participate in international competitions demonstrates an attempt to have the nation’s athletes “locked to China,” one legislator said.
On July 25, the East Asian Olympic Committee announced that it was revoking Taichung’s right to host the East Asian Youth Games in August next year, citing Chinese concerns over a bid to change the name of Taiwan’s Olympic team.
More recently, Beijing has sought to obstruct Taiwan’s bid to host this year’s World Rugby Under-19 Championship.
These efforts represent Chinese attempts to tie sports in Taiwan to China, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) said on Saturday, adding that Taiwan must counter such actions by seeking greater participation in international sports competitions.
From July 18 to 24, Beijing held its first Cross-Strait Exchange Games (海峽兩岸體育交流運動會). Former education minister Wu Ching-chi (吳清基) led a Taiwanese delegation of about 1,800 athletes from 39 universities.
“When both sides of the [Taiwan] Strait draw closer together, China will be stronger,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Liu Jieyi (劉結一) said during the opening ceremony.
Over the week of the Games, Taiwanese athletes were invited to visit training facilities for the Chinese national team and met with China’s Olympic gold-medal-winning athletes for photo ops.
On the closing day of the Games, it was announced that Taichung’s right to host the East Asian Youth Games was being revoked due to pressure from Beijing.
Despite this, Taipei’s Department of Sports said that this year’s Cross-Strait Cup basketball competition would go ahead as planned at the end of this month.
The competition is part of the annual twin-city forum between Taipei and Shanghai, with this year’s event taking place in Shanghai.
The Taiwan Affairs Office has approved a cross-strait baseball competition. The matches are set to be held in Taichung.
Event medals are to bear the engraving: “Exchanges on two sides of the Strait, baseball in one family.”
The baseball finals are to be held in Shenzhen, China, at the end of the year.
Shanghai’s Fudan University is currently hosting another sports event at which athletes from Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong and China are participating. The flag of the Taiwanese team is not being flown at the event.
China had been planning the Cross-Strait Exchange Games and the revocation of Taichung’s right to hold the East Asian Youth Games for a while, an official with knowledge of the matter said.
The Sports Administration had initially prepared to send officials to the Cross-Strait Exchange Games and had assisted with preparations, the official said.
The administration was planning to hold the Games in Taiwan next year and only called a halt to plans after concerns were raised, the official added.
“China’s strategy is to keep Taiwanese [athletes] ‘locked’ in China,” Tsai said. “Cross-strait exchanges are not everything. Our athletes need to participate in international competitions.”
The Games are a part of Beijing’s “united front” strategy, Tsai said, adding that they are not real athletic exchanges.
“Otherwise, why does the greater part of these exchanges involve recreational activities not related to sports?” he said.
Meanwhile, Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday said that while the city would do its best to regain the right to host the East Asian Youth Games, there is no way to know if the Games would be held next year.
Taichung also plans to make preparations to host its own international competition next year, he said.
The city has been in talks with the Sports Administration and the nation’s Olympic committee to get input on how preparations for its own international competition should proceed, he said.
Additional reporting by Su Meng-chuan
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