Speedskater Huang Yu-ting (黃郁婷) should be suspended from Taiwan’s national team for identifying with China at the Beijing Winter Olympics, and should be prevented from representing Taiwan at future competitions, independent Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said yesterday.
Huang Yu-ting, one of the four athletes competing for Taiwan at the Games in Beijing, caused a controversy on social media on Feb. 3 after posting a video of her wearing a Chinese national team skinsuit while training.
After removing the video from her account at midnight on Wednesday, she posted a response to the controversy, saying: “Sports is sports.”
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Furthering the controversy, sports officials allowed her to act as a flagbearer for Taiwan’s delegation at the opening ceremony.
After placing 26th out of 30 entrants in the 1,500m on Monday, Huang Yu-ting thanked the Beijing audience “for their warm support and cheering for me. It was quite moving for me, like I was competing at home,” Chinese media reported.
The Sports Administration must enforce existing regulations to mete out punishment and suspend athletes who have tarnished the nation’s image, Huang Kuo-shu said at a media briefing at the legislature yesterday.
“It is clear China is taking up ‘united front’ tactics for political warfare against Taiwan during the Winter Olympics,” he said. “Enticing athletes with benefits, China considers Huang Yu-ting to be a model Taiwanese athlete because she is happy to compete for China.”
“The government and the Sports Administration must enforce regulations to stop our athletes from bringing dishonor to the nation, and to prevent China from co-opting Taiwanese athletes,” he said, adding that Huang Yu-ting was given significant coverage by China’s Xinhua news agency, the Beijing Daily and other media in China.
Disqualification and punishment must be administered before the Summer Universiade scheduled for June in Chengdu and September’s Asian Games in Hangzhou, he added.
Huang Kuo-shu said that Huang Yu-ting could be suspended from representing Taiwan under Article 15 of the Sports Administration bylaw and the Regulations Concerning Audition, Training and Registration of Sports Coaches and Athletes for National Representative Team of International Games (國家代表隊教練與選手選拔培訓及參賽處理辦法).
The article stipulates that athletes can be disqualified from representing Taiwanese national teams when “acting to damage the nation’s honor or national team’s image.”
Huang Yu-ting yesterday told TVBS News that she has regrets and would not have posted the video of her wearing the Chinese uniform if she had known the controversy it would lead to.
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