Twenty-four overseas Taiwanese organizations in a joint letter urged the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to stop infringing on spectators’ freedom of speech and allow them to display Taiwan signage.
The letter, addressed to IOC president Thomas Bach and members of the IOC executive board, was led by the Formosan Association for Public Affairs (FAPA), along with 23 other overseas Taiwanese organizations from the US, Japan, Europe, Argentina and Costa Rica.
During the Olympic games, signs or items with the words “Taiwan” on them have been snatched away by Olympic security staff or Chinese spectators. Some spectators holding such signs have been forcibly ejected from venues, the letter said, adding that the IOC’s “Taiwan-specific restrictions” were “unfair” to spectators supporting the nation.
Photo: Ann Wang, REUTERS
These violent acts were against the Olympic spirit and “infringed on the freedom of speech of Taiwanese spectators at the Olympics to rightfully express support for the athletes from their country, ‘Taiwan,’” it said.
The letter also called on the IOC to “let Taiwanese athletes compete under the name ‘Taiwan’” rather than forcing them to use “the discriminatory misnomer ‘Chinese Taipei.’”
Taiwan is an independent country, which is a long-established “status quo,” and the nation’s Olympic teams should be able to “compete proudly and properly under the name ‘Taiwan,’” FAPA president Kao Su-mei (林素梅) said.
Due to political pressure from China, the IOC unfairly contravenes the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter that “every individual must have access to the practice of sport, without discrimination,” and that “sports organizations within the Olympic Movement shall apply political neutrality,” she said.
“For four decades since 1984, capitulating to the political pressure from the People’s Republic of China [PRC], the IOC has unjustly forced Taiwan to participate in the Olympics under the name ‘Chinese Taipei’ and prohibited the display of its national flag and the playing of its national anthem during the games,” the letter said.
“We call on President Bach and the full IOC Executive Board not to succumb to China’s political pressure and immediately stop its discriminatory requirement for athletes from Taiwan to compete under the fictitious name ‘Chinese Taipei,’ which falsely implies that Taiwan is part of China, even though Taiwan has never been ruled by the PRC for a single day,” it said.
The letter also called on the international community to “support democracy and freedom by opposing authoritarian China’s attempts to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty and independent statehood through the forcible imposition of the humiliating name ‘Chinese Taipei’ on Taiwan.”
The letter urged Bach and other Olympic officials to “resist China’s political bullying against Taiwan” and eradicate all discriminatory and unjust restraints imposed on Taiwanese athletes and supporters.
“We call on the IOC to live up to the ideals and principles of the Olympic Charter, allow Taiwan to proudly compete under its name, ‘Taiwan,’ and use the national flag and anthem that can truly represent Taiwan,” they said.
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