The leader of the Taiwan Statebuilding Party has called for the “outdated Chinese Taipei designation” to be discarded and urged the government to use “Team Taiwan” and “Taiwanese athletes” for all sports competitions after Mongolia barred the Kaohsiung-based Taipower FC soccer team from entering the country due to China’s coronavirus outbreak, leading to a cancelation of the team’s Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup match against Ulan Bator City on Wednesday.
The AFC on Wednesday announced that it was canceling that day’s preliminary round of the AFC Cup at the MFF Football Centre in the country’s capital, Ulan Bator, as well as a return leg of the two sides scheduled for Wednesday next week in Kaohsiung.
The move was decided at an AFC emergency meeting, where executives talked to both teams about rescheduling the matches, Taiwan’s governing body, the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), said in a statement.
On Sunday, the team was prevented from boarding a flight to Ulan Bator at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport after the Mongolian government banned Taiwanese from entering the country.
CTFA secretary-general Fang Ching-ren (方靖仁) said at the time that Mongolia, in a bid to prevent the spread of the 2019 novel coronavirus, imposed strict border restrictions, barring all travelers to the country from the “Chinese area,” which it interpreted to include not only China, Hong Kong and Macau, but also Taiwan.
From Sunday to Wednesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and CTFA communicated with Mongolian authorities through Taiwan’s trade representative office in Ulan Bator to convince them that the Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign nation, not part of China.
The Mongolian government was informed by the CTFA that the coronavirus outbreak occurred in Wuhan, China; that Taiwan has contained any spread of the virus locally; and that the Taipower team would not make any stopovers in China, association officials said.
However, despite the diplomatic assurances, along with the CTFA’s push for the AFC to get involved, Mongolia would not change its stance, and the match cancelations stood.
Taiwan Statebuilding Party Chairman Chen Yi-chi (陳奕齊) said that the match cancelations were likely due to Mongolia being pressured by China to bar the Taiwanese team.
“Their government mistakenly thought ‘Chinese Taipei’ was under China’s jurisdiction,” Chen said.
“The Mongolian government is also working hard to prevent the spread of the ‘Wuhan virus’ in their country, but it is Taiwan’s own use of ‘Chinese Taipei’ that has caused so much confusion in the international community,” Chen said. “It is time for us to discard the outdated and incorrect ‘Chinese Taipei,’ and to start to use ‘Taiwan’ and officially refer to our national squad as ‘Team Taiwan’ on the world stage.”
The government and the nation’s sports teams have belittled themselves by using “ROC” and “Chinese Taipei,” which confuses people from other countries into thinking that they are part of China, Chen said.
“This is the right time to start the change and for our people to be proud of our country as ‘Taiwan,’ and let the world know that we are a separate and sovereign country — that we are not part of China,” Chen said.
Taiwan was listed in 14th place among the world's wealthiest country in terms of GDP per capita, in the latest rankings released on Monday by Forbes magazine. Taiwan's GDP per capita was US$76,860, which put it at No. 14 on the list of the World's 100 Richest Countries this year, one spot above Hong Kong with US$75,130. The magazine's list of the richest countries in the world is compiled based on GDP per capita data, as estimated by the IMF. However, for a more precise measure of a nation's wealth, the magazine also considers purchasing power parity, which is a metric used to
Taipei’s Ximending (西門町) shopping area welcomed the most international visitors, followed by Taipei 101, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park and Yangmingshan National Park (陽明山國家公園), a list of the city’s most popular tourist attractions published by the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism showed. As of August, 69.22 million people had visited Taipei’s main tourism spots, a 76 percent increase from 39.33 million in the same period last year, department data showed. Ximending had 20.21 million visitors, followed by Taipei 101 at 8.09 million, Songshan Cultural and Creative Park at 6.28 million, Yangmingshan at 4.51 million and the Red House Theater (西門紅樓) in
Renovations on the B3 concourse of Taipei Main Station are to begin on Nov. 1, with travelers advised to use entrances near the Taiwan Railway or high-speed rail platforms or information counter to access the MRT’s Red Line. Construction is to be completed before the end of next year, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp said last week. To reduce the impact on travelers, the NT$95 million (US$2.95 million) project is to be completed in four stages, it said. In the first stage, the hall leading to the Blue Line near the art exhibition area is to be closed from Nov. 1 to the end
WARNING: Domestic coffee producers mainly grow arabica beans, as they self-pollinate, but they are more likely to have consistency issues, an expert said Taiwan ranks third in coffee consumption per capita in Asia, the latest Ministry of Agriculture data showed. Taiwanese consume 1.77kg, or 177 cups of coffee, per person each year, less only than Japan and South Korea, at 600 cups and 400 cups respectively, the ministry’s Tea and Beverage Research Station said. Although the nation mainly relies on imported coffee, there has been an increase in home-grown coffee bean production, the ministry said. Cuttings and other techniques are commonly used to ensure domestic beans have stronger floral and fruity flavors, it said. It is a fast-expanding market with Taiwan’s coffee consumption
RSS