Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned incidents in which signage supporting Taiwan was snatched from spectators watching badminton at the Paris Olympics, saying it contravened the spirit of the Games and freedom of speech.
The incident took place during the men’s doubles match on Friday, when Taiwan’s Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin advanced to the final after beating Denmark’s Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen.
A unidentified man in a pink shirt was seen seizing the sign from a female spectator — later identified as Yang Chih-yun (楊芷芸), a Taiwanese studying in France — before being removed from the stands by security. The sign was cut out in the shape of Taiwan proper and said: “Go Taiwan” in Mandarin.
[…]
The “malicious individual” who forcibly took the sign has “seriously violated the cultural spirit of the Olympic Games, showed contempt for the rules and harmed freedom of speech,” the ministry said.
Although the Republic of China (ROC) flag is prohibited, there is no explicit ban on items that have the word “Taiwan” written on them, the Taipei Representative Office in France said.
[…]
Taiwanese athletes compete in the Olympics under the name “Chinese Taipei.”
Yang said whenever she cheered “Taiwan go” during the match, the man in the pink shirt shouted “Chinese Taipei” or “Taipei team.”
In a separate incident during the same game, an Olympics staff member was “overzealous” in removing a green towel that read “Taiwan In,” the ministry said adding that it has instructed officials to issue a complaint to the Paris Games’ organizing committee.
[…]
In yet another incident on Friday, two Reuters journalists saw a spectator with a green banner reading “Taiwan go for it” being bodily removed up a staircase, shouting, while Taiwanese shuttler Chou Tien-chen was playing.
Libya, Laos, Cambodia, Sudan, Tunisia, Ghana, Morocco, Malaya (now Malaysia), Guinea, Cameroon, Togo, Mali, Madagascar, Congo-Leopoldville (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), Somalia, Dahomey (now Benin), Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Ivory Coast, Niger, Chat, Central African Republic, Congo-Brazzaville (now the Republic of the Congo), Cyprus, Gabon, Senegal, Nigeria, Mauritania, Sierra Leone, Kuwait, Samoa, Burundi, Rwanda, Algeria, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Kenya, Malawi, Malta, Zambia, The Gambia, Maldives, Cook Islands, Singapore, Guyana, Botswana, Lesotho, Barbados, Nauru, Mauritius, Eswatini, Equatorial Guinea, Tonga, Fiji, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Bangladesh, The Bahamas, Guinea-Bissau, Grenada, Niue, Mozambique, Cape Verde, Comoros, Sao Tome and Principe, Papua New Guinea, Angola, Suriname, Western Sahara, Djibouti, Seychelles, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Kiribati, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Zimbabwe, Vanuatu, Belize, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Brunei, Lithuania, Namibia, Latvia, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Georgia, Somaliland, Eritrea, Croatia, Ukraine, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Kyrgystan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Palau, East Timor, Montenegro, Serbia, Kosovo and South Sudan are the countries that have come into existence / independence in the time since Taiwan effectively became a self-governing state.
Maybe it’s time we stop pretending that Taiwan is just a temporary rebel state that’s really part of China?
To which the obvious response is that this particular state, unlike all the others in that list, has not taken the first step and claimed its own independence. Yes, that is for a pragmatic reason. But also yes, it is significant.
Only because China’s Anti-secession law promises war if Taiwan changes its name from the old “Republic of China” (since 1911) to “Republic of Taiwan”. RoC was never affiliated with communist China (PRC), but martial law era ruling party KMT first threatened to retake China and then diluted the plan into “reunification” and cozied up with China. Taiwanese people never agreed with KMT’s hubris or sucking-up, which shows in voting results since the martial law ended.
It’s so sad that the Olympics have so many political/corruption problems because the Olympics are at heart such a beautiful thing.
Many countries among the world coming together to compete in sportsmanship is culturally so enriching, I just want to watch volleyball and have everything be okay.
With the IOC it is very much endemic. There is no way to improve the olympic games without snatching them from their corrupt hands first. However which countries would take care of the games, without just putting their own political messaging in? The Games always have been a means of politics.
Fuck Beijing.
Shame on the government for trying to control the free world and shame on the people for not demanding better.
Shame.
IOC will do nothing. France’s OC will do nothing. I realized that the modern Olympic movement is dead when the IOC awarded Salt Lake City the 2034 Games only if the US stops complaining about China being allowed to dope their athletes.
Related thread in !olympics@sh.itjust.works. Links to it in a handful of instances:
