Winter Olympics: Taiwan says no officials will go to Beijing Games but athletes will attend

Name: Dozens of positive Covid cases found in Beijing Olympic bubble and airport ahead of Winter Olympics
Uploaded: 2022-01-25T11:08:56.000Z
Duration: 1 min 11 s
Description: Dozens of positive Covid cases found in Beijing Olympic bubble and airport ahead of Winter Olympics

Mainland Affairs Council calls for Beijing to refrain from using politics to ‘interfere’ with competition or ‘belittle’ the island

Chinese Taipei’s best Olympic performance was at last year’s Tokyo Games and revived debate over whether the island should compete under the name ‘Taiwan’

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A woman jogs past an installation near the Beijing Olympic Park at the 2022 Winter Olympics on Tuesday. Taiwan has announced it would not send officials, only athletes, to the Games. Photo: AP Photo

Reuters

Published: 7:08pm, 25 Jan 2022

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 mainland China not to use politics to “interfere” with the event or “belittle” the island.

Taiwan competes in most sporting events including the Olympics as “Chinese Taipei” at the insistence of Beijing, which sees Taiwan as part of one China and inviolable Chinese territory.

Relations 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’s air defence zone, with further massed incursions reported by Taiwan this week.

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Dozens of positive Covid cases found in Beijing Olympic bubble and airport ahead of Winter Olympics

In a statement, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said the island’s athletes would compete in the Games as normal. At least four have already qualified, according to Taiwan’s Olympic committee.

“In addition, considering the limited number of participants and the previous precedent that our side’s officials were often absent, no official representatives will be sent,” it added.

Taiwan’s Olympic committee would lead a delegation to mainland China and handle matters related to the Games, the council said.

“We call on this year’s organisers to abide by the ‘Olympic Charter’ 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,” it added, without elaborating.