Intro Why do Taiwanese Olympians compete under
the name "Chinese Taipei, and how did an international sports competition become a
battleground in the Chinese Civil War?
Today, we’re diving into a story of
controversy, compromise, national humiliation, and national identity.
Welcome to ChinaTalk.
History In the 1940s, the communist revolution
took China by storm. The communists, led by Mao Zedong, overthrew the ruling
Republic of China government and established the People’s Republic of China, or PRC. The
ROC leaders retreated to the island of Taiwan, hoping to regroup and launch a counteroffensive to
retake the mainland under the leadership of Chiang Kai-Shek. Taiwan was wide open, as the Japanese
colonial government had abandoned the island after their defeat in WWII. Easy, right?
Wrong! Decades of distractions and boondoggles kept both Chinas occupied, and the Chinese
Civil War became a frozen conflict. For decades, Chiang Kai-Shek’s KMT party ruled Taiwan
as a military dictatorship. Instead of admitting that reconquering mainland China was, ahem,
unrealistic, they stubbornly claimed to be the legitimate government of all of China and Taiwan.
This fantasy became the “One-China principle” – the PRC eagerly agreed with the KMT’s argument
that Taiwan is part of China, and regarding the issue of who governed this Unified China,
each side could just agree to disagree.
The KMT’s ultimatums worked well until the PRC
became rich and powerful. Beginning in the 1970s, Taiwan’s allies ghosted them one-by-one and
recognized the PRC. One by one, international institutions cited the One China Policy and booted
Taiwan’s representatives. Nationalist China was a founding member of the United Nations, and majorly
contributed to the Japanese defeat in world war 2, but that didn’t prevent the Taiwanese
delegation from being unceremoniously deported from the UN in 1971.
Today, the KMT is an unpopular minority party in democratic Taiwan. I wonder why.
One China at the Olympics.
During the colonial period, Taiwan’s olympic
athletes competed under the Japanese flag. Following the nationalist takeover of Taiwan,
the ROC and PRC took turns boycotting the Olympics if the other was competing.
Once it was clear that the ROC had lost the mainland for good, the International Olympic
Committe found itself in an awkward situation. When Canada hosted the Olympics in 1976, they
prohibited Taiwan’s athletes from competing on the basis of the One China policy.
The Olympics are supposed to be apolitical. It was a bad look for the IOC if host countries
took sides in the Chinese civil war and banned athletes based on geopolitical winds. They needed
a workaround to avoid triggering a diplomatic incident every 2 years. Taiwanese athletes tried
competing as The Republic of China, Taiwan, and Formosa, but in China’s opinion, all of
these titles violated the One China policy.
Chinese Taipei Finally, the two found compromise in the 1979
Nagoya Resolution. This agreement allowed Taiwan to participate in the Olympics, as long
as they competed under a different name, flag, and national anthem. It's a bit like showing
up to the bar with an obviously fake ID.
You won’t find “Chinese Taipei” on any map of
the world, but that’s almost the beauty of it.
The word “Chinese" is purposefully ambiguous
– it could either refer to Chinese ethnicity or a Chinese citizenship. “Taipei” is Taiwan's
capital city, which makes the allegiance of the athletes clear without implying
anything about territorial extent.
This compromise isn't exactly popular in Taiwan.
Using the word “Taiwan” is strictly prohibited at olympic events, but that doesn’t stop some
Taiwnese fans from disobeying in protest. During the Paris 2024 Olympics, a family of 4
was ordered to wash off their facepaint that depicted Taiwan’s. A banner with a slogan written
in Taiwanese Hokkien was snatched and shredded.
Many Taiwanese people feel this disrespects
their identity and sovereignty, while rewarding China for authoritarian pettiness. It’s also
important to note that Taiwan’s Indigenous people aren’t even ethnically Chinese – they’re
Austronesian, like Hawaiians, Filipinos, and the Maori in new Zealand. CK Yang, the
winner of Taiwan’s first olympic medal, CK Young was an indigenous athlete born under the Japanese
occupation. [CK Yang story] Yang’s charisma and athletic success made him internationally famous.
The press crowned him “The Iron Man of Asia” and extensively reported on his friendship
with the American Olympian Rafer Johnson, who narrowly won gold in 1960 while Yang won
silver. CK Yang was giving the non-Chinese parts of Taiwanese culture a platform on a global scale
– and that was enraging to Communist China.
The PRC allegedly recruited one of Yang’s
teammates to poison his orange juice the night before he competed in the 1964 Tokyo olympics.
He became violently ill and finished 5th place, despite being the overwhelming favorite
to win gold. Before the teammate could be further investigated, he fled to mainland
China and was given PRC citizenship.
Given that the choice between competing
under a fake name and not competing at all, Taiwan’s athletes have made the best of the title
they’ve been given. At the 2024 Olympics in Paris, Taiwan’s Badminton duo won gold in a
high stakes match against the People’s Republic of China. When Taiwanese fans
from celebrate national victories, their political circumstance doesn’t
usually dampen their enthusiasm.
This compromise isn't just for the Olympics —
"Chinese Taipei" represents Taiwan in the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization,
the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum, and the Miss Universe beauty pageant.
What do you think about Taiwan’s predicament? Let us know in the comments below! And
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more explanations of geopolitical oddities.