Calling the spokesman for the Athens Olympic Organizing Committee a "liar," Government Information Office (GIO) Director-General Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday voiced the nation's "most vehement protest" against the committee, which is removing the nation's posters from baggage carts at Athens' international airport and the city's trolley buses.
"It's a lie that no political pressure is involved in this matter and that the design and content of our posters violate the regulations set down by the Olympic Committee," Lin said.
"We feel sorry that they caved in to political pressure and breached the Olympic spirit and the contract they had signed with us," Lin said.
Committee Spokesman Serafim Kotrotsos has reportedly claimed that the committee did not receive any pressure from anyone to remove the ads and that the ads violated the Olympic theme.
Visibly displeased with Kotrotsos' remarks, Lin said that if Taiwan cannot use the name -- Chinese Taipei -- that is approved by the International Olympic Committee, he did not know what other name the nation could use in its promotion campaign.
"Besides, the committee had already approved our application. How can it reverse its own decision?" Lin said.
Lin said that the incident only highlights once again Beijing's bullying behavior and serves as negative propaganda for China itself.
"While the Olympic Games have not yet started, China has already launched political warfare against us. Such an atrocity is bound to invite contempt and disgust from Taiwanese people and the rest of the world," he said.
"This is not an isolated case nor is it the first and definitely not the last one," Lin said.
Lin also threatened to refuse to pay the US$150,000 promotion campaign fee should the committee not honor the contract signed with Taiwan.
"We'll use the money to run ads elsewhere, such as on the BBC or in Time," he said, adding that the GIO has mapped out a contingency plan, which he refused to reveal for fear of further Chinese oppression.
Lin said that he has sent a letter to the president of the committee expressing the nation's stance and its wish to rectify the situation as soon as possible.
Because the advertisements are law-abiding and are neither offensive nor defamatory, Lin said, the nation is at a loss to understand how things turned out.
"This sudden and surprising decision ? is disheartening to us back home in Taiwan at a time when we were eagerly anticipating our team's performance in the Games," Lin said in the letter to Gianna Aggelopoulos-Daskalaki, president of the committee.
In addition to requesting that Aggelopoulos-Daskalaki look into the matter, Lin called on George Bolos, general marketing manager of the committee, to reconsider his decision.
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