Three US Representatives on Thursday urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to stop requesting Taiwan to join the Olympic Games using the name Chinese Taipei (中華台北) in a letter addressed to committee president Thomas Bach.
Not only do Taiwanese athletes have to compete under the name “Chinese Taipei,” but Taiwan’s national flag and national anthem are also barred as the committee “capitulated to pressure from communist China,” US representatives Tom Tiffany, Andy Ogles and Chris Smith said in the letter.
“This is not just unfair, it violates the core tenets of the Olympic Charter,” they said.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The charter states: “Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination,” and “sport occurs within the framework of society, sports organisations within the Olympic Movement shall apply political neutrality.”
Taiwan “has never been under the control of the People’s Republic of China, or part of its territory for even a single day,” they said.
However, Taiwan is unable to be called by its own name while athletes from Puerto Rico and Bermuda do not have to compete as territories of the US or the UK respectively, they said.
Puerto Rico and Bermuda are allowed to use their own flags at the opening ceremony and during medal award presentations, they added.
The US lawmakers described the treatment as “uniquely irrational Taiwan-specific restrictions,” adding that there have been reports of Taiwanese fans being banned from waving national flags at Olympic venues.
“This makes no sense,” they said.
They called on Bach and other IOC officials to “resist China’s persistent bullying and consider sweeping away these discriminatory restraints on Taiwan’s athletes and supporters before the Paris Summer Games begin later this year.”
The Games are to take place from July 26 to Aug. 11.
After Taiwan left the UN in 1971, its Olympic committee and other sports associations were excluded from the IOC and various international sports organizations due to Beijing’s oppression, Taiwan’s Olympic committee said.
The title of Taiwan’s national team, and its flag and emblem, in the Games were approved and recognized by the IOC according to an agreement it reached with Taiwan’s Olympic committee in 1981 in Lausanne, Switzerland, it said.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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