The year 2009 will be an important one for Taiwan for gaining international recognition, for Kaohsiung City will host the Eighth World Games and Taipei City will host the 21st Deaflympic Games. Regardless of the outcome of the games, the fact that Taiwan will host two international sporting events will be a morale booster for the people of Taiwan.
Apart from the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, almost every country hosting the Olympic Games has lost money. Despite this, countries are doing everything in their power to win the right to host the games. The reason for this is that hosting an international sporting event will improve the country's international name recognition, bring the nation together and improve the level of athletics. These things are all more important than money.
Hosting these events is far more significant for Taiwan than it would be for other countries. Taiwan has always been pushed aside in the international arena by China.
Once it was pushed off the international agenda altogether, Taiwan could no longer participate in international athletic events until 1981, when it signed the Lausanne Agreement and once again was welcomed to participate in such events, now under the name "Chinese Taipei." From that time on, five attempts by Taiwan to win the right to host an international sports event have failed due to Chinese pressure: the Asian Games in 1998 and 2002, the World University Games in 2001 and 2007 and the East Asian Games in 2009.
In 1995, Kaohsiung was well on the way to winning its bid to host the 2002 Asian Games. At the time its position was much stronger than that of its closest rival Busan, South Korea, but Kaohsiung lost the bid after Beijing used its influence. In 1997, Kaohsiung bid to host the 2001 World Games. The front runner in this race was the city of Daegu, South Korea. Unable to pay the US$5 million donation because of a financial crisis, Daegu was forced to drop its bid. With Daegu out of the race, the nomination should have gone to Kaohsiung, but at the last minute, China entered the race, depriving Kaohsiung of the prize. Last year, Tainan and Kaohsiung jointly bid for the 2007 World Games. China, unable to bid again, having hosted the event in 2001, put its support behind Bangkok, which led to yet another bitter defeat for Taiwan. Taiwan's success in winning the bid for the 2009 World Games has enormous significance.
The fact that Taiwan will be playing host to two international sporting events represents a degree of acceptance and recognition from the international community. This is especially the case as Beijing will be hosting the 2008 Olympics and Shanghai will host the World EXPO in 2010, which increases the international pressure that China can bring to bear on Taiwan. This makes it all the more important that we are hosting two important sporting events in 2009, which balances things out internationally.
Taiwan's space on the international stage has been gradually eroded by China, and after battling for many years we have finally won the right to host the World Games. The joy and sorrow that attends this success is not easily understood by people outside Taiwan. All Taiwanese should cherish this hard earned opportunity and give a cheer for Kaohsiung's success.
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