Country\u2019s China-policy making council says athletes would compete in the Games
\n TAIPEI
\nTaiwan will not send any officials to the Beijing Winter Olympics but its athletes will attend as normal, the government said on Tuesday, adding a call for China not to use politics to \u201cinterfere\u201d with the event or \u201cbelittle\u201d the island.
\nTaiwan competes in most sporting events including the Olympics as \u201cChinese Taipei\u201d at the insistence of Beijing, which sees democratically governed Taiwan as part of \u201cone China\u201d and inviolable Chinese territory.
\nRelations have plummeted in the past two years or so as Beijing steps up military and diplomatic pressure to assert its territorial claims, including regular air force flights into Taiwan\u2019s air defence zone, with further massed incursions reported by Taiwan this week.
\nIn a statement, Taiwan\u2019s China-policy making Mainland Affairs Council said the island\u2019s athletes would compete in the Games as normal.
\nAt least four have already qualified, according to Taiwan\u2019s Olympic committee.
\n\u201cIn addition, considering the limited number of participants and the previous precedent that our side\u2019s officials were often absent, no official representatives will be sent,\u201d it added.
\nTaiwan\u2019s Olympic committee will lead a delegation to China and handle matters related to the Games, the council said.
\n\u201cWe call on this year\u2019s organisers to abide by the \u2018Olympic Charter\u2019 and not use political factors to interfere with the competition and suppress and belittle our side. Relevant government units will also be prepared to respond to various emergencies,\u201d it added, without elaborating.
\nAuthorities in Taipei feared that Beijing could \u201cdowngrade\u201d Taiwan\u2019s status by putting its athletes along side those from the Chinese \u201cspecial administrative region\u201d of Hong Kong at the opening ceremony, a senior Taiwan official familiar with the matter told Reuters.
\nNo Taiwanese officials attended the 2008 Beijing Summer Games, though three senior politicians did.
\nDigital Minister Audrey Tang was due to go to last year\u2019s Tokyo Games, but her trip was cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns.
\nAt the last Winter Games in South Korea in 2018, Taiwan only sent four athletes, who won no medals.
\nSpeed skater Huang Yu-ting is Taiwan\u2019s only returning athlete for Beijing. Sub-tropical Taiwan, where snow brushes only the highest mountaintops during the coldest winters, has never won a medal at the Winter Olympics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Country\u2019s China-policy making council says athletes would compete in the Games TAIPEI Taiwan will not send any officials to the Beijing Winter Olympics but its athletes will attend as normal, the government said on Tuesday, adding a call for China not to use politics to \u201cinterfere\u201d with the event or \u201cbelittle\u201d the island. Taiwan competes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-240825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n