Independence advocates yesterday urged lawmakers to follow the European Parliament’s example and hold a vote on boycotting next year’s Beijing Winter Olympics.
“We demand that lawmakers deliberate this matter, take a public stance and pass a resolution, like what the European Parliament did. The Taiwanese legislature should declare to the world and explain why it should not participate [in the Games] hosted by China,” Taiwan Republic Office director-general Chilly Chen (陳峻涵) said.
The European Parliament on July 8 passed a non-binding resolution urging EU members to boycott the next Winter Olympics due to the human rights violations and atrocities committed by Beijing against Uighurs, Tibetans and Hong Kongers, he said.
Photo: AP
The resolution was passed by an overwhelming majority of 578 votes, while 29 opposed it and 73 abstained, he added.
However, the government and legislators have stayed silent on this matter, Chen said.
“It is time to show solidarity with Uighurs, Tibetans and other minorities who have suffered under Chinese oppression with its genocidal policy to eliminate their religion and culture,” he said.
“Taiwan is on the front line of an alliance of democratic nations to confront Chinese aggression... So we must not be ambivalent in our dealings with China, but must make a clear decision and declare publicly why Taiwan should boycott the Beijing Winter Olympics,” Chen said.
Taiwan Republic founder Peter Wang (王獻極) said that it has been more than one month since the European Parliament approved the resolution, “but here in our own legislature, we have heard only silence, as no lawmaker is willing to take a stand on the issue.”
“It is also important for our athletes to compete in Olympic Games under the name Taiwan. Other countries have been calling our Olympic delegation Taiwan. We received much support from the international community in Tokyo,” Wang said.
Wang added that he would lead a group of independence campaigners to visit the offices of legislative caucuses to find out if they would support a vote on boycotting the Games.
A declaration to boycott the Games would not hurt Taiwanese athletes if they choose to compete, as there are ways to go around it, as the Tokyo Olympics had shown, with a team of refugees participating and Russian athletes taking part under the name the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC), Chen said.
“Russians competing as the ROC means this name is already taken, and that the name ROC — or the Republic of China — has no legitimacy in the world,” he said.
“Now is the time to rectify our name and allow our Olympians to compete under the name Taiwan, instead of using the name the ROC or Chinese Taipei,” he added.
Chinese state media will likely portray Taiwanese athletes as coming from “a province of China” or “Taiwan, China,” or use them for propaganda as athletes “coming home to the Chinese motherland’s embrace,” Chen said.
Given China’s control over the media, news and information, and their lack of transparency, the outside world would not really know, he said.
The COVID-19 pandemic might also extend into next year and athletes going to Beijing in February could be at a high risk of infection, he added.
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