The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday condemned Beijing a day after China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) referred to Taiwan’s Asian Winter Games athletes as representing Zhongguo Taibei (Taipei, China, 中國台北), instead of Zhonghua Taibei (Chinese Taipei, 中華台北).
The TAO at a routine news conference said that Chinese “welcome the Taipei, China team attending the 9th Asian Winter Games and congratulate Taipei, China athletes’ performance and achievements on the field.”
This year’s Asian Winter Games are being hosted in Harbin, China.
Photo: Chen Yu-fu, Taipei Times
In response, the MAC in a statement said that Taiwan “solemnly condemns” the TAO’s phrasing as a breach of the “Olympic model.”
The term refers to an agreement between Taiwan and the International Olympic Committee to resolve matters involving Taiwan’s representation in international sporting events.
“The Republic of China is a sovereign independent country with a president elected by popular vote, and a government organized according to the principles of democracy and the rule of law,” the MAC said.
The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, which oversees the nation’s team at the Asian Winter Games, is equal to its foreign counterparts and its affairs are not China’s to meddle with, it said.
Beijing’s attempt to denigrate Taiwan “will not change the reality of the mutually non-subordinate nature of the relationship between the two parties across the Taiwan Strait, or have any effect beyond eliciting the resentment of Taiwanese,” it added.
The state-run China Sports Daily also referred to the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee as the Taipei, China committee in a report on a meeting between representatives of the Taiwanese organization and their Chinese counterparts.
Separately, the Sports Administration also criticized the TAO’s statement as a deviation from the Olympic model and going against the fact that Taiwan has never been part of the People’s Republic of China.
“The Chinese government discredited itself in the eyes of Taiwanese and the global community by refusing to follow rules governing the interaction between international organizations,” the agency said.
Beijing is urged to refrain from “using sports as a tool to belittle Taiwan, conduct ‘united front’ propaganda or other actions contrary to positive cross-strait relations,” it said.
When asked to comment on China’s position on the “Olympic model” agreement, TAO spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) accused journalists of misunderstanding the agreement, because it applies to sporting events, but not their coverage by the media.
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