As criticism from pro-Taiwan independence groups over the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government’s handling of a referendum on the national team’s name at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics mounts in cyberspace, Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday defended his commitment to a pragmatic approach to Taiwanese independence.
An alliance of civic groups has initiated a referendum drive on renaming the national sports team from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan” at the Tokyo Olympics and other competitions.
The DPP government’s perceived lack of support for the referendum has prompted charges that Lai is foxi (佛系) about Taiwanese independence, a Chinese Internet slang term referring to Buddha-like passivity and indifference toward a goal.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Quoting Lai’s description of himself as a “political worker for Taiwanese independence” when he fielded questions from lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan in September last year, a group of pro-localization organizations last month called for Lai to lend his support to the proposed referendum.
In an interview yesterday with Web-based Yahoo TV, Lai said that Taiwanese independence through pragmatism is derived from and defined by the DPP’s “Resolution on Taiwan’s Future” ratified in 1999.
The resolution states that Taiwan is a sovereign and independent nation named the Republic of China (ROC) that is neither a subordinate of China, nor seeks to subjugate China, whose future can only be determined by the will of its people, he said.
There is nothing wrong with advocacy for renaming the nation’s Olympic team to “Taiwan,” Lai said, adding that proposal organizer Chi Cheng (紀政) competed under that name as an Olympian in 1960, 1964 and 1968.
However, while the government respects the advocates’ views, it is bound by the Lausanne Agreement, in which Taiwan’s Olympic committee consented to participate in Olympics under the name “Chinese Taipei,” he said.
“A lot of people are understandably dissatisfied that Taiwan has to participate in the Olympics as ‘Chinese Taipei’ under the terms of the Lausanne Agreement, but this is the reality of the situation and we have to protect our right to have our athletes participate in the Olympics,” he said.
Lai also said that the Cabinet is committed to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy directives.
He reiterated Tsai’s official line that there would be no changes in goodwill, no changes in promises, no reversion to confrontation, no bowing to pressure and no compromising national sovereignty for expedient short-term interests that would jeopardize Taiwan’s free and democratic way of life.
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
TRANSPORT CONVENIENCE: The new ticket gates would accept a variety of mobile payment methods, and buses would be installed with QR code readers for ease of use New ticketing gates for the Taipei metro system are expected to begin service in October, allowing users to swipe with cellphones and select credit cards partnered with Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC), the company said on Tuesday. TRTC said its gates in use are experiencing difficulty due to their age, as they were first installed in 2007. Maintenance is increasingly expensive and challenging as the manufacturing of components is halted or becoming harder to find, the company said. Currently, the gates only accept EasyCard, iPass and electronic icash tickets, or one-time-use tickets purchased at kiosks, the company said. Since 2023, the company said it
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS