ON THE FENCE: The FGG has redesignated Taiwan several times and explained its rules on displaying flags, saying that athletes would not be banned from showing their pride
Taipei Times
Date: Jul 27, 2018
By: Ann Maxon / Staff reporter
Taiwanese athletes might not be able to compete at this year’s Gay Games
New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang, fourth left, and NPP candidates for the New Taipei City and Taipei elections at a news conference in Taipei yesterday urge people to support the right of Taiwanese sports teams to compete in this year’s Gay Games in Paris under the name “Taiwan.” Photo courtesy of the New Power Party
in Paris under the name “Taiwan” after the French delegation of the Federation of Gay Games (FGG) unexpectedly changed the team’s name from “Taiwan” to “Taipei,” the Taiwan Gay Sports and Taiwan Gay Development Movement Association said yesterday, adding that it would continue to negotiate with the organizers to rename the team.
Although China has not openly commented on Taiwan’s participation in the Games, it has been widely speculated that the French government instructed the FGG to change Taiwan’s designation on its Web site due to pressure from Beijing.
On Tuesday, Beijing successfully lobbied the East Asian Olympic Committee to revoke Taichung’s right to host the first East Asian Youth Games in August next year as punishment for a grassroots campaign promoting a referendum proposal to rename Taiwan’s national sports team from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan” for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
FGG officials had agreed to allow the athletes to compete as “Taiwan” and display the nation’s flag when they invited Taiwanese to participate in the event in February last year, association president Yang Chih-chun (楊智群) told the Taipei Times. [FULL STORY]
