Claims by Taiwan's bobsled team that the government has failed to support its efforts to compete in the upcoming winter Olympics were rejected yesterday by the National Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (
The five-man bobsled team is the nation's only guaranteed representative at the Winter Games -- on Feb. 8 in Salt Lake City, Utah -- although two members of the luge team are still trying to qualify.
In an open letter to the government last week, bobsled team captain Chen Chin-shan (
They said their "old and decrepit" snowcar failed to meet international standards and they were unable to buy a new one, which would cost US$30,000, because of inadequate support from the government.
"We worry that the snowcar we have had to rent will not pass the IOC [International Olympic Committee] test and that all our hard work will be undone," they said in the letter. "We have worked and saved hard to reach our goal [of competing in the Winter Games] but of all the sports associations we are given the least money."
"Sports is a sure path to develop our national diplomacy," they said, but the fact that a flag-handing over ceremony for the team had not been arranged showed that the government did not care.
In response, Hsu Hsin-wen (
He said a flag handing-over ceremony would take place, but it was unlikely the president would be present, as is traditional.
"The [sports council] disagrees with the bobsled team's action," Hsu said. "Team members should express their opinions to the [sports council] through the country's luge and bobsled association (
The Honorary Chairman of the Luge and Bobsled Association Hsu Chi-you (
He said the government had provided just over NT$500,000 to the association last year and this had been used to pay for training and qualification events.
Hsu said he had not been informed of any other support.
"It's all very strange. We asked the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee in March last year whether they would support us, but they must have put our letter in the waste basket because we never heard anything from them," Hsu said. "They told us the association was no good and classified us among the seven worst sports associations. We don't know how they arrived at this conclusion, because actually our record of success has been good."
Taiwan has been competing in the luge since 1976 and the bobsled team has competed at every Winter Olympics since 1984 and won a World Cup event in Italy that year.
Hsu said he suspected a lack of legislative representation was the the reason why Taiwan's luge and bobsled teams have been ignored.
"We are thinking this is very unfair. If we had a legislator on our committee then we would have no trouble getting money. We did have a legislator, but he quit and this is probably why we're being ignored."
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
RSS