During the Summer World University Games in Germany on Wednesday, the Chinese team repeatedly challenged Taiwan’s national dignity, including by contacting officials from the Essen City Government, demanding the removal of a Taiwanese flag from a doorway, and even told organizers that the crowd’s chants of “Go Taiwan” contravened the rules.
A Chinese man and woman went further by attempting to forcibly seize a congratulatory letter from the Ministry of Education intended for athletes Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), Jung Jiun-jie (鍾俊傑) and Huang Cho-cheng (黃卓乘) after they won silver in taekwondo.
Fortunately, reporters from Formosa TV (FTV) and Sports Administration personnel intervened, physically blocking the attempt and successfully protecting Taiwan’s dignity and preventing members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from stealing it.
The congratulatory letter clearly used the Republic of China (ROC) calendar — the ROC, a name the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has long advocated for under the “one China, different interpretations” framework. This framework suggests that both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan’s ROC can coexist under the broader definition of “China.”
However, the CCP’s actions reveal its outright rejection of the KMT’s narrative. The CCP even refuses to accept the use of the name ROC.
The national flag, featuring the blue sky and white sun, and the term “ROC” have both been targeted by the CCP’s efforts to erase any trace of Taiwanese national identity on the international stage.
Even when Taiwanese supporters cheered “Go Taiwan” at these Games, the CCP lodged unreasonable protests with the event’s German hosts, demanding that such expressions be banned.
This reveals that the CCP’s real aim is not merely to suppress the blue sky and white sun flag, the use of “ROC” or even the cheers of “Go Taiwan,” rather it is to prevent Taiwan from having an independent national identity on the international stage, in line with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) assertion that Taiwan is “an inseparable part of Chinese territory.”
All the more tragic is that within Taiwan, some political forces, such as KMT and Taiwan People’s Party legislators, are acting as de facto CCP agents. They show little concern for China’s disrespect for Taiwan’s national status. Instead, they repeatedly travel to China to accept the CCP’s internal directives, only to return to Taiwan and undermine the Constitution, destabilize governance, paralyze the administration, weaken national defense and hijack the national budget.
Such actions are laying the groundwork for the CCP to annex Taiwan. All signs point to a shared objective between the CCP and KMT to eliminate the ROC, force unification, dismantle our democracy and divide political power among themselves.
Chen Chi-nung is a political commentator.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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