Why is Taiwan called "Chinese Taipei" during the Tokyo Olympics?
The Taiwanese delegation to the Tokyo Olympics must be called Chinese Taipei during the competition of the Olympic Games.
© PHIL NOBLE / REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Taiwanese weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun won gold on Tuesday July 27 in Tokyo.
But no Taiwanese flag or anthem during the medal presentation, because Taiwan is not allowed to call itself "Taiwan" at the Olympics, but must be called "
Chinese Taipei
“, A rule that Beijing, for which this territory still belongs to it, monitors very closely.
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From their first participation in the Olympics, Communists from Beijing and nationalists from Taiwan present themselves as the only real China.
Suddenly, Taiwan will regularly change its name: "
Formosa-China
" in 1956 while Beijing boycotts the competition.
At the request of the IOC, the island is presented under the name of “Taiwan” in the 1960s, but gradually the territory will recover the title “Republic of China” until 1976, when the host country asks it to return. to "Taiwan".
Diplomatically, it is Beijing's China that is increasingly recognized, and it wants to prevent it from presenting itself as a sovereign state.
Taiwan boycotts the competition at first, but will agree to return in 1984 under the current name: "
Chinese Taipei
".
No anthem and no flag
And Beijing is on the lookout.
During the opening ceremony, the state daily
Global Times
denounces
a "
dirty political maneuver
"
when a Japanese presenter talks about the "Taiwan" team.
As for the Chinese broadcaster Tencent, it censors the entry of the Taiwanese delegation, because it scrolls according to the order of the character "
ta
" of Taiwan.
The Taiwanese, them, often live badly the fact of not being able to compete under their name, with their flag and their anthem.
But the 2018 referendum to return to the name “Taiwan” was a failure: athletes feared being deprived of competition by an IOC threatening them with exclusion.
►Also read: Tokyo 2021: two first medals for South Africa, the Tunisian Hafnaoui stopped
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