The government on Friday rebuked China for using the Beijing Winter Olympics to assert its claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, saying that China had “cast a shadow” over the peaceful spirit of the event to spread propaganda.
Yan Jiarong (嚴家蓉), a spokeswoman for the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), on Thursday spoke of China’s position regarding Taiwan at a news conference attended by International Olympic Committee (IOC) spokesman Mark Adams.
“What I want to say is that there is only one China in the world. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. This is a widely recognized principle of international relations and a consensus in international society,” the former UN envoy said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Yan also responded similarly to questions concerning Xinjiang, calling reports about forced labor camps in the region “a lie” told by “some groups with malicious intentions.”
In Taipei, the Mainland Affairs Council on Friday said that “the people of Taiwan firmly oppose” Beijing’s “one China” principle.
“The Republic of China is a sovereign state, and Taiwan has never been part of the People’s Republic of China,” the council said, adding that it condemned China for interfering with international sports activities by asserting its politics.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also rejected Yan’s claims as untrue and said that the remarks “undermined the integrity of Taiwan’s sovereignty.”
The ministry also criticized China for spreading “inappropriate” political propaganda at the Olympics, saying that Beijing had breached the rule of political neutrality enshrined in the Olympic Charter.
“No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas,” the charter says.
Yan’s comments have also caused concern for IOC president Thomas Bach, who sidestepped questions about Xinjiang at the Games’ opening ceremony, citing political neutrality.
“We were in touch with BOCOG immediately after this press conference,” the New York Times cited Bach as saying on Thursday. “Both organizations, BOCOG and the IOC, have restated the unequivocal commitment to remain politically neutral, as it is required by the Olympic Charter.”
Yan’s remarks about Taiwan, which has four athletes at the Games, comes as China steps up efforts to limit the nation’s participation in international events and affairs.
The four athletes took part in the Games’ opening ceremony after the team said it had received “several notices” by the IOC urging them to attend the opening and closing ceremonies.
Last month, Taiwan initially said that its athletes would not attend due to delayed flights and China’s COVID-19 prevention measures.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
RSS