By the time the opening ceremony began, the Beijing Winter Olympics had already passed its first diplomatic incident. Speed skater Huang Yu-ting carried the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag into the Olympic Stadium with fellow skier Ho Ping-jui.
Opening ceremony: Taiwan’s participation under pressure from the IOC?
Both come from Taiwan, the island state off China that is not officially recognized by many countries due to the one-China policy. And actually, Taiwan’s government had plausibly excused its athletes from the ceremony:
Because of the great risk of Covid infection, the athletes would unfortunately have to pass the show run. But then the International Olympic Committee is said to have exerted immense pressure, for which the party was obviously more important than the health of the athletes for the competitions.
China wants to prevent Taiwan’s recognition
The background, of course, is entirely political: China’s independence from Taiwan is a thorn in its side, but for leader Xi Jinping it’s a temporary nuisance he has promised to solve through a process he calls reunification.
On the island of Taiwan, which has 23.5 million inhabitants, they call it a warlike annexation and live in constant fear. China is pressuring the world to prevent Taiwan’s recognition. This also explains the artificial name and the strange flag at Olympia.
Imprisonment for the civil rights activist
“Taiwan is repeatedly harassed or forced to accept this art designation and not our name. We are being blackmailed because our political situation has been so badly damaged by the pressure from China that if we protest fear that our athletes could be deprived of the right to participate in the Olympic Games. Unfortunately, the IOC played a part in that.”says the official representative of Taiwan in Germany, Shieh Jhy-Wey, in an interview with Sportschau:
“This is due to the fact that the People’s Republic of China is so powerful both militarily and economically and unjustifiably claims to regard Taiwan as a breakaway province from China – which cannot be true because since the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949, our Island Republic of Taiwan was never ruled from there for a single day. So this is a political frame-up, or at least a political harassment, that we don’t deserve.”
At the games in Beijing, Taiwan has only three athletes at the start, in addition to the two flag bearers, the luger Lin Sin-rong. The athletes grew up in the difficult relationship between the states. They have learned to maneuver between the systems, because being too rebellious and open or even criticizing the People’s Republic can be dangerous. The Taiwanese civil rights activist Lee Ming-che was sentenced to five years in prison in the People’s Republic – the charge: “Undermining State Power”.
Anger for the enemy’s team suit
The constant threat from the huge neighbor sometimes leads to a kind of anticipatory obedience among insecure athletes and the people. Speed skater Huang irritated her compatriots before the Winter Games when she posted a photo of training in a new team suit on social media: that of the national team of the People’s Republic.
And when the people in Taiwan voted a few years ago on whether an attempt should be made to establish an honest name at the Olympics, a majority voted against.
“I can assure everyone”says chief diplomat Jhy Wey Shieh, “If there wasn’t a danger that we could be punished for it, 99, if not 100 percent of the population would say: Yes, we call ourselves Taiwan and we are a democracy. We want to participate with the name Taiwan U.N.at the Olympic Games and at all international societies.”
External shame for the IOC boss
Against this background, the hustle and bustle of the German I.O.C-President Thomas Bach and his pandering to China’s head of state Xi Jinping viewed particularly critically. “It wasn’t right for Xi Jinping to get an Olympic medal, regardless of who. I wouldn’t have given him a medal, that would have been embarrassing. It brings tears to my eyes when I think about it, like many peaceful people , intellectual people, fell by the wayside just because they demanded, in a very, very humble way, a little bit of human rights”says Taiwan’s envoy Jhy Wey Shieh.
“This is the Xi Jinping regime, and they get applause at the opening ceremony with their militarism, with soldiers goose-stepping with the flag. Unfortunately, the opposite of what you expect from the Olympic Games is happening. I said to myself that only one Doubting Thomas is able to keep the credibility of this organization from going down the drain.”
Taiwan fears Chinese ‘lightning war’
Taiwan has been particularly alarmed by developments in Ukraine since leaders of Russia and China used the Olympic stage for bilateral talks. The island state is prepared for the fact that the two men discussed the perversion of Olympic ideals, including the Olympic truce.
“I can well imagine that, after this era of the Olympics in China, nationalism was really stirred up at home, so to speak, that they would say: Yes, now we’ll close the sack. We are definitely prepared for the event that that China wants to conquer Taiwan with a blitzkrieg,” says Jhy Wey Shieh.
He fears that the country’s protective powers will be distracted by a front in Europe in the shadow of Olympia. “Without Putin forging this plan together with Xi Jinping, it’s bad enough for us. Of course, it would be even worse if the Ukraine crisis is not resolved. That could mean war.”says Jhy Wey Shieh, “Then the Europeans will be tied to this crisis, the Americans no less. Yes, one naturally wonders whether China sees this as an opportunity to attack Taiwan without having to worry too much.”