The spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, Yang Yi (楊毅), said yesterday that both Zhongguo Taibei (中國台北, “Taipei, China”) and Zhonghua Taibei (中華台北, “Chinese Taipei”) are acceptable translations for the official Olympic designation of “Chinese Taipei,” thus threatening to raise tensions between China and Taiwan one month before the Olympics.
In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said the development was “a severe mistake,” and it would protest to the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
Yang said that although both translations were acceptable, the Beijing organizing committee (BOCOG) would use Zhonghua Taibei in printed materials and at all venues. But Yang added that the decision was not binding on any other Chinese group, organization or individual.
In Taipei, MAC Vice Chairman Chang Liang-jen (張良任) said “Chinese Taipei” was the name that the Olympic committees of both sides agreed on in 1989 and that the government was firmly opposed to the name “Taipei, China.”
Chang said that in 1989, when the then chair of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, Lee Ching-hua (李慶華), met Chinese Olympic Committee representatives, the two parties agreed that the translation of “Chinese Taipei” would be Zhonghua Taibei.
SARKOZY SAYS OUI
Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games next month, his office said yesterday.
Sarkozy told Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) he would go to Beijing during a meeting on the sidelines of the G8 summit.
Sarkozy had threatened to boycott the Olympic opening gala following a Chinese crackdown in Tibet in March that sparked international outrage, leading to speculation that some world leaders might shun the Games.
“The head of state consulted all of his European counterparts and, with their agreement, will attend the opening ceremony in his double capacity as president of France and as president of the European Union,” the statement said.
Sarkozy said earlier that his decision on whether to attend the ceremony would hinge on progress in talks between China and the Dalai Lama.
In France, media watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) accused Sarkozy of surrendering to China.
“I am disappointed and bitter. Until the last moment, I kept hoping he would not dare” attend the ceremony, RSF secretary-general Robert Menard said.
“This is a surrender in the middle of battle, an abandonment of all the commitments he made as a candidate and all of the values our country embodies,” Menard said.
He said Sarkozy’s decision was a “stab in the back” to Chinese dissidents, who had been “abandoned” by France.
RSF, which spearheaded protests during the Olympic torch’s global relay, said it was calling for protests outside Chinese embassies worldwide on Aug. 8 and would travel to China to demonstrate in defiance of a ban.
During his meeting with Hu, Sarkozy expressed France’s desire to boost its strategic partnership with China “in all its dimensions” and reiterated French support for Beijing following the May earthquake in Sichuan Province.
French officials said the meeting between Sarkozy and Hu went “extremely well” and the strategic partnership between France and China was “back on track once again.”
Xinhua news agency reported yesterday that tourists would be banned from visiting Beijing’s prestigious Peking University during the Olympics.
The top university will be closed to visitors from July 20 to Sept. 18, Xinhua reported.
The ban will be imposed because of security concerns, Xinhua said, quoting the deputy head of the university’s campus security department.
Teachers, students and staff will have to show identity cards or passes issued by the university to get onto the campus.
The campus, where Olympic and Paralympic table tennis events will be held, is a huge tourist attraction, and every summer thousands of parents take their children there to motivate them to do well in their studies, Xinhua said.
INCONVENIENT: The US’ new air travel policy requires all non-citizen travelers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, but the Taiwanese vaccine is not on the list The US government next month is to require all non-US nationals to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before boarding a flight to the nation, but the Taiwanese vaccine manufactured by Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp (高端疫苗) is not on Washington’s list of acceptable vaccines. The new international air travel policy, which is to take effect on Nov. 8, requires all non-citizen, non-immigrant air travelers to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before flying to the US. People are considered fully vaccinated two weeks after they receive their second dose in a two-dose series or two weeks after a single-dose vaccine, the White House said. Vaccines
DOWN, NOT OUT: The election was not a total defeat, as Chen still received 73,433 votes against the recall, and his party has ‘grown up’ through the process, he said Voters in Taichung yesterday recalled Taiwan Statebuilding Party Legislator Chen Po-wei (陳柏惟), making him the first legislator in the nation’s history to lose a recall election. A total of 77,899 votes were cast to recall Chen, while 73,433 voted against, the Taichung City Election Commission said, adding that 51.72 percent of the city’s second electoral district turned out. The Central Election Commission is to confirm the final figures within the next seven days, it said. Commission data showed that there are 294,976 eligible voters in the second district, comprised of Dadu (大肚), Shalu (沙鹿), Longjing (龍井), Wufong (霧峰) and Wurih (烏日) districts. Chen won
MILITARY RESOLVE: Washington does not want a cold war with Beijing, it just wants ‘China to understand that we’re not going to step back,’ Biden told a CNN town hall The US would come to Taiwan’s defense and has a commitment to defend the nation China claims as its own, US President Joe Biden said on Thursday, although the White House later said there was no change in policy toward Taiwan. “Yes, we have a commitment to do that,” Biden said at a CNN town hall meeting when asked if the US would come to the defense of Taiwan, which has been facing mounting military and political pressure from Beijing to accept Chinese sovereignty. While Washington is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself, it has long
AFTERSHOCKS LIKELY: A hiker was hurt by falling rocks at the Taroko National Park, while a tower crane was damaged at a construction site in New Taipei City A series of earthquakes yesterday injured several people, damaged buildings and disrupted transportation. A magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck 8km northeast of Hualien County Hall at 12:38pm at a depth of 23.8km, the Central Weather Bureau’s Web site showed. It was followed at 1:11pm by a magnitude 6.5 quake centered near Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳) at a depth of 66.8km. A magnitude 5.4 earthquake followed less than a minute later, with its epicenter near the county’s Datong Township (大同), at a depth of 67.3km. A magnitude 4.2 quake again struck Nanao at 2:05pm at a depth of 63km. The magnitude 6.5 earthquake was the strongest
RSS