Taking legal action against British writer J.K. Rowling under the UK’s anti-discrimination laws is a possible option for Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷), and the government should not hesitate to stop radical gender discrimination, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) yesterday, while Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators also criticized Rowling for her critical comments of Lin.
Lin and Algerian Imane Khelif, also a boxer, are at the center of a row over their participation in the Paris Olympics after previously being disqualified from last year’s World Championships in New Delhi.
Both were cleared to fight in Paris.
Photo: AP
“What will it take to end this insanity? A female boxer left with life-altering injuries? A female boxer killed?” Rowling wrote on X on Friday.
Wang said that Lin’s eligibility to participate in the 2022 Asian Games in China and the Paris Olympics was approved by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), as well as Paris Games and Asian Games organizers.
It is unthinkable that Lin still faces verbal abuse and Internet bullying, Wang said.
No Taiwanese should stand by seeing Lin having to shoulder the tremendous stress of participating in a prestigious international competition while being the subject of Rowling’s abuse and bullying, he added.
Should Lin be willing to take legal action against Rowling, “we will demand that the government fully assist her in such endeavors and be her shield,” he said.
Lin started boxing due to a desire to protect her mother, Wang said, adding that Taiwanese are willing to give her all the encouragement and backing she needs.
Taking legal action would also deter countries with radical gender discrimination from bullying or being prejudiced against Asian athletes, he said.
KMT Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) said that Rowling should be more capable than others at discerning the truth and reality of issues, and yet she has not sought the truth among falsehoods.
She has gone against the spirit of her Harry Potter series and has instead chosen to be like Muggles and Voldemort, only willing to believe in themselves and ignoring love and truth, Hsu said.
KMT Legislator Chen Ching-hui (陳菁徽) said Rowling’s comments serve only to incite confrontation and misunderstanding, and are not conducive to the Olympic spirit.
Sports fans at a Taipei bar on Friday were also supportive of Lin, who won a fight against Uzbekistan’s Sitora Turdibekova.
“She hasn’t done anything wrong, that’s the way she is — it’s unnecessary to attack her appearance,” computer engineer Hannah Huang said.
Tracy Wu, who said that she does not watch boxing, but has followed the controversy, attributed the online hatred to Lin being the top seed.
“Everyone feels particularly threatened by her, so that may be why they attack her,” Wu said.
Separately, IOC president Thomas Bach told a conference in Paris that the “hate speech” directed at Lin and Khelif was “totally unacceptable.”
“We will not take part in a politically motivated ... cultural war,” Bach said.
IOC spokesman Mark Adams has warned against turning the row into a “witch hunt.”
“I should make this absolutely clear to everyone: This is not a transgender issue. These women have been competing in competitions for many years,” he said. “This involves real people and we’re talking about real people’s lives here.”
Additional reporting by AP and AFP
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS