Taiwan yesterday won a gold medal in the women’s 500kg weight class and bronze in the U-23 560kg mixed weight class at the tug-of-war World Championship in Holten, Netherlands.
On Saturday, the men’s U-18 national team won silver in the 560kg weight class after a 2-0 loss to South Africa, while Taiwanese teams on Thursday won gold, four silvers and a bronze in the tournament matches, which are warm-ups for the championship.
Taiwan yesterday overpowered Switzerland in the women’s 500kg final to win its first gold medal at the championship, while the U-23 mixed team finished behind Switzerland and Sweden.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Tug of War Association via CNA
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s men’s 560kg team faced a controversial judgement in its third-place playoff against Germany.
After Taiwan lost the first match, it was locked in a stalemate for 12 minutes in the second match, when the referee signaled for both sides to stop for a rematch, Taiwan’s Tug of War Association secretary-general Cho Yao-peng said.
“Our team did so and was drawn away by the German team as we started to lean forward slowly, but the referee came forward all of a sudden and told us to continue competing,” Cho said.
The association said it had filed a formal protest over the call.
Taiwanese are still in contention for medals in the men’s U-23 600kg competition, as well as the women’s 540kg and U-23 500kg competitions.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or