The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday accused the world’s largest free-diving organization of self-censorship, after it tried to make Taiwanese divers compete under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
The International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA), which organizes free-diving competitions around the world, held this year’s AIDA Caribbean Cup on the Honduran island of Roatan from May 15 through Tuesday.
Huang Ming-chun (黃明峻) placed second in the constant weight without fins category with a national record-setting 63m dive, while Lien Lin-lan (連林嵐) set new national records in free immersion and constant weight apnea.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
Huang on Wednesday wrote on Facebook that the two athletes had found that their nationality had been altered from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei” on the schedule published before the event began.
Huang and Lien immediately protested the change to AIDA, which relented only after the two divers threatened to drop out of the competition, he wrote.
The ministry in a statement yesterday said that it “lauds Huang and Lien for their tireless efforts in defending the dignity of the nation and competing brilliantly as athletes of Taiwan.”
“AIDA’s decision to change the name of our country stemmed from political self-censorship. These actions caused offense to the dignity of our country and the rights of our athletes, which the ministry condemns with righteous indignation,” it said.
Taiwan urges the organization to respect the opinions expressed by the overwhelming majority of its members, and the professionalism and integrity of sports, instead of bowing to China’s undue political influence, it added.
“Beijing’s ceaseless campaign to denigrate Taiwanese athletes in international sports events serves only to elicit the distaste of Taiwanese, causes further damage to China’s image and reveals the totalitarian nature of the Chinese Communist Party government,” the statement said.
The organization last year removed Taiwan’s flag from a live broadcast of the AIDA Individual Depth Freediving World Championship in Cyprus in which Taiwanese divers competed, drawing protests from Taipei.
DEFENDING DEMOCRACY: Taiwan shares the same values as those that fought in WWII, and nations must unite to halt the expansion of a new authoritarian bloc, Lai said The government yesterday held a commemoration ceremony for Victory in Europe (V-E) Day, joining the rest of the world for the first time to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Taiwan honoring V-E Day signifies “our growing connections with the international community,” President William Lai (賴清德) said at a reception in Taipei on the 80th anniversary of V-E Day. One of the major lessons of World War II is that “authoritarianism and aggression lead only to slaughter, tragedy and greater inequality,” Lai said. Even more importantly, the war also taught people that “those who cherish peace cannot
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
‘FALLACY’: Xi’s assertions that Taiwan was given to the PRC after WWII confused right and wrong, and were contrary to the facts, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday called Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) claim that China historically has sovereignty over Taiwan “deceptive” and “contrary to the facts.” In an article published on Wednesday in the Russian state-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Xi said that this year not only marks 80 years since the end of World War II and the founding of the UN, but also “Taiwan’s restoration to China.” “A series of instruments with legal effect under international law, including the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Declaration have affirmed China’s sovereignty over Taiwan,” Xi wrote. “The historical and legal fact” of these documents, as well