President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday thanked the nations that supported Taiwan when the world’s largest freediving organization removed the national flag during a live feed after China’s official broadcaster complained.
The International Association for the Development of Apnea (AIDA) removed Taiwan’s flag during a live broadcast of the Individual Depth Freediving World Championship in Cyprus on Tuesday, in which five Taiwanese divers competed.
The organization said that it removed the flag after the broadcaster complained that displaying the flag would affect its broadcast of the event, leaving Taiwan as the only one among the 44 participating nations without a flag.
Photo courtesy of AIDA Taiwan via CNA
The organization on Thursday apologized, saying: “We learn from our mistakes and we’ll set different streams from now on to prevent this from happening again.”
However, AIDA Taiwan said that even though AIDA president Alexandru Russu had apologized to the Taiwanese delegation on the day of the event, the organization would not show the flag again during the broadcast on Wednesday and Thursday.
AIDA Taiwan said it was given two options: Either leave the space for the flag blank or compete under the banner of Chinese Taipei, as the nation did in the Tokyo Olympics.
The Taiwanese athletes subsequently asked the organizers to leave the space blank, as the flag used in the Olympics “signifies the long oppression [of Taiwan] by China” on the international stage, AIDA Taiwan said in an open letter published on Facebook. “If AIDA International could so easily take down the national flag of one of their member states simply because of the Chinese market or sponsors’ will, we raise the question where is the spirit and dignity of AIDA as a non-profit organization when facing such temptations.”
AIDA Taiwan called on the organizers to explain their decision and initiate an internal investigation into the matter, while urging other participating nations to support Taiwan’s request.
Japan was the first among at least 10 countries that subsequently requested the organizers remove their flags in solidarity with Taiwan.
“AIDA Japan strongly requests AIDA International. Please remove the Japanese flag from the competition list on YouTube LIVE,” AIDA Japan said in an open message. “We cannot overlook the situation that only Taiwan is disadvantaged. We want to share the pain with Taiwan.”
Countries that removed their national flags included Germany, Russia, South Korea and the US.
“I thank the athletes from these countries for showing their will and supporting Taiwan,” Tsai wrote on Facebook.
When entering Thursday’s competition, Taiwanese participants flashed the national flag.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) chairman-elect Eric Chu’s (朱立倫) office yesterday said in a statement that the broadcaster complained and threatened to end the broadcast, as it feared that Chinese might see the Republic of China flag.
The decision to remove the flag without consultation is unacceptable, the office said, rejecting the organizers’ apology.
It urged Beijing to allow the display of the flag, saying that the broadcaster’s move contributed to many China-friendly Taiwanese becoming alienated.
The office also thanked the athletes of other nations who stood with Taiwan and requested that their flags be removed.
Additional reporting by Lee Hsin-fang and Shih Hsiao-kuang
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
NEGOTIATIONS: Taiwan has good relations with Washington and the outlook for the negotiations looks promising, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo said Taiwan’s GDP growth this year is expected to decrease by 0.43 to 1.61 percentage points due to the effects of US tariffs, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday, citing a preliminary estimate by a private research institution. Taiwan’s economy would be significantly affected by the 32 percent “reciprocal” tariffs slapped by the US, which took effect yesterday, Liu said, adding that GDP growth could fall below 3 percent and potentially even dip below 2 percent to 1.53 percent this year. The council has commissioned another institution
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS