China will not attend the opening ceremony of the Summer Deaflympics in Taipei, the organizer said yesterday, hinting that it had something to do with the visit of the Dalai Lama.
Emile Sheng (盛治仁), chief executive of the Taipei Deaflympics Organizing Committee, said that as the Chinese team would not arrive until 9:40pm on Saturday, they would not be able to attend the opening ceremony, which is scheduled for 7:30pm.
The Deaflympics will be held from Saturday through Sept. 15. This will be the first time the event is held in Asia.
PHOTO: AFP
Asked whether Beijing’s decision had anything to do with the Dalai Lama’s visit, Sheng said he was not sure, but that he had “admiration for Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu [陳菊]” because Chen went to China to promote the World Games in Kaohsiung before the event was held in July.
“Now Chen even remembered to invite the Dalai Lama over before the Deaflympics begin,” he said.
Sheng said he was notified of the flight schedule of the 100-member Chinese team three days ago. Although the Chinese team will not attend the opening ceremony, China will nevertheless send a dance troupe of hearing-impaired individuals to perform the Thousand-hand Guanyin (千手觀音).
Despite the devastation caused by Typhoon Morakot and growing threat of swine flu, Sheng said everything would proceed as planned in the spirit of the Deaflympics.
AND THE CLOSING?
On whether the Chinese team would attend the closing ceremony, Sheng said he did not know, but he was certain there would still be some members in Taiwan when it takes place, as the team is scheduled to leave the country on Sept. 15 and Sept. 16.
As for the name the country’s team will use, Sheng said it would be “Chinese Taipei,” the name the nation has used since 1991 when it was admitted into the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf.
The country will also use the flag of the Chinese Taipei Sports Association of the Deaf at the Games.
On the teams’ order of appearance during the opening ceremony, Sheng said that France would lead the procession, in keeping with International Committee of Sports for the Deaf protocol.
France was the first country to sponsor the Deaflympics.
As the host, the Taiwanese team will appear last, Sheng said.
‘PLOT’
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday urged Chen to stop her “political calculations,” saying her plot was “evident” to some. Wu also called on the Democratic Progressive Party to stop creating problems for cross-strait relations.
Blaming the Dalai Lama for the Chinese team’s absence at the opening ceremony is ridiculous and the tactic of some politically biased media, the DPP said yesterday, rebutting the KMT’s reasoning for the boycott.
That Taipei City failed to reach an agreement with Beijing, which resulted in the boycott, is completely unrelated to the Dalai Lama’s visit, DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) said.
Cheng said that during the World Games, the Chinese team also boycotted the opening and closing ceremonies.
The Chinese team’s boycott at the Deaflympics ceremony is a result of Taipei City’s inability to get Beijing to say yes, Cheng said.
The Deaflympics is one of four games regulated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC). Its events are similar to those of the Olympic Games and are governed by the same rules.
The 21st Summer Deaflympics in Taipei are expected to bring together about 4,000 athletes and sports officials from 101 countries.
The Games will feature 20 sports, namely athletics, badminton, basketball, bowling, cycling, football, handball, orienteering, shooting, swimming, table tennis, tennis, volleyball, beach volleyball, water polo, freestyle wrestling, Greco-Roman wrestling, karate, judo and taekwondo.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA
Also See: EDITORIAL: Now the punishment begins
Also See: Regular cross-strait flights commence on low-key note
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS