Taiwan will not send a team to next year’s Gay Games in Hong Kong because of fears that their athletes and staff could be arrested if they wave the nation’s flag or use its name, the Taiwan Gay Sports and Movement Association said.
“We have decided not to send a national delegation, as we don’t expect to be able join as Taiwan and to ensure personal safety of the athletes,” association president Yang Chih-chun (楊智鈞) said.
Yang said that the association, which is a member of the Federation of Gay Games, would assist any Taiwanese who wanted to attend in a personal capacity.
However, “we won’t actively encourage individual participation, since there’s no guarantee of a player’s personal safety because under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, arrests can be made under any excuse,” he said.
China has used the National Security Law to snuff out dissent in the territory after it was rocked by protests two years ago.
Yang said he feared athletes that could easily “cross the red line” if they spoke their minds.
Hong Kong is to host the 11th Gay Games in November next year.
It has been hosted by cities in the US, Australia and Europe.
The Gay Games said in a statement it would follow the convention of Taiwan being called either “Chinese Taipei” or “Taiwan region.”
Athletes from Taiwan and the association were welcome to attend, organizers said.
“We are strictly non-partisan and non-political, and we ask all participants and visitors to respect and observe local laws and customs during their stay in Hong Kong,” it said.
At the 2018 Games in Paris, Taiwanese participants said that they came under pressure from organizers not to fly the flag of the Republic of China.
Ultimately, they waved it at the opening ceremony while holding a banner reading “Taiwan.”
Doing that in Hong Kong could lead to arrest.
Criticism of China by any athlete could also be risky given that the National Security Law forbids any act deemed to be subversion or secession — and the law covers all nationalities.
Hong Kong was announced as the next Gay Games host in 2017, two years before the democracy protests and subsequent crackdown.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS