BOUND BY AGREEMENTS: The premier said that he would limit his engagement in line with a DPP resolution and the Lausanne Agreement in the interest of Taiwan’s athletes
Taipei Times
Date: Aug 07, 2018
By: Chen Yu-fu and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer
As criticism from pro-Taiwan independence groups over the Democratic Progressive
Premier William Lai speaks at an event in Taipei on Tuesday last week. Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
Party (DPP) government’s handling of a referendum on the national team’s name at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics mounts in cyberspace, Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday defended his commitment to a pragmatic approach to Taiwanese independence.
An alliance of civic groups has initiated a referendum drive on renaming the national sports team from “Chinese Taipei” to “Taiwan” at the Tokyo Olympics and other competitions.
The DPP government’s perceived lack of support for the referendum has prompted charges that Lai is foxi (佛系) about Taiwanese independence, a Chinese Internet slang term referring to Buddha-like passivity and indifference toward a goal.
Quoting Lai’s description of himself as a “political worker for Taiwanese independence” when he fielded questions from lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan in September last year, a group of pro-localization organizations last month called for Lai to lend his support to the proposed referendum. [FULL STORY]