Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday called on China to be a “good host” at the Asian Games scheduled to take place in Guangzhou from Nov. 12 through Nov. 27, in which a Taiwanese team will participate under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
“During the Asian Games, the mainland Chinese side should be more cautious, while our side should behave in a manner that is neither overbearing nor self-effacing ... in line with Olympic regulations,” Executive Yuan spokesman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) quoted Wu as saying at the weekly Cabinet meeting.
Under a formula set up by the International Olympic Committee in 1981, Taiwanese teams must participate in sporting events under the name “Chinese Taipei” and organizers are not allowed to hang Republic of China national flags at sporting venues.
Chiang said Wu’s comments on the Games came after he commended the director of the Government Information Office’s Department of Motion Pictures Affairs, Frank Chen (陳志寬), who led the Taiwanese delegation to the Tokyo International Film Festival last week. Wu said Chen was “neither overbearing nor self-effacing” in his rejection of a demand by his Chinese counterpart that the delegation change its name from “Taiwan” to “China, Taiwan,” or “Chinese Taipei.”
Wu said he wished Taiwanese and Chinese delegations could both demonstrate sincerity and goodwill during the Games following the disagreement at the film festival, Chiang said, adding that Wu thought Chen deserved a merit award.
When Chen returned to Taipei on Monday, he said that other issues should not have been brought into a cultural event and he expressed his sorrow for the frustration felt by Taiwanese stars.
“However, national dignity is paramount and should be considered,” Chen said.
Meanwhile, the Mainland Affairs Council said it hoped Beijing would take concrete action to make up for the damage it had done to Taiwanese in the row.
Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liu Te-shun (劉德勳) said that Beijing had to think about the strong reaction Taiwanese had to what happened at the festival.
Liu, however, ruled out asking Beijing to apologize for the controversy, saying he hoped there would not be a repeat of the incident.
He also said he didn’t quite understand what China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Yang Yi (楊毅) meant when he said on Wednesday that the controversy had been caused by “a lack of communication.”
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