Chinese Taipei

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Taiwanese team at the 2010 Winter Olympics opening ceremony with Chinese Taipei flag

"Chinese Taipei" is a designated term being used in various international organizations and tournaments for the representation of the Republic of China (ROC), a sovereign state commonly known as Taiwan.

Due to the One-China policy stipulated by the People's Republic of China (PRC, China), Taiwan, being a non-UN member after its expulsion in 1971 with ongoing dispute of its sovereignty, was demanded restriction of use or display for any of its national symbols such as national name, anthem and flag that would represent the statehood of Taiwan at international events. This dissension eventually came to a compromise when the term "Chinese Taipei" was first proposed in the Nagoya Resolution in 1979, whereby the ROC/Taiwan and the PRC/China recognize the right of participation to each other and remain as separate teams in any activities of the International Olympic Committee and its correlates. This term came into official use in 1981 following a name change of Olympic Committee of the ROC to Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. Such arrangement later became a model for the ROC/Taiwan to continue participating in various international organizations and affairs in diplomacy other than the Olympic games, including the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the Metre Convention, APEC, and international pageants.

"Chinese Taipei" is a deliberately ambiguous term, which is equivocal about the political status of the ROC/Taiwan, and the meaning of "Chinese" (Zhōnghuá, Chinese: 中華) can either be interpreted as national identity or cultural sphere (similar ethnonyms as Anglo, Arab, Hispanic or Slav), "Taipei" is only reflected as its capital city which does not specify the geographical extent of the ROC. It was considered as a more inclusive term than just "Taiwan" to either the Kuomintang, the ruling party of the ROC at the time, or the PRC, whilst both sides were contending their legitimacy over the whole "China" that regarded to encompass both of mainland China and Taiwan. To the PRC's perspective, the use of "Taiwan" as a national title would imply a de jure independence of Taiwan apart from the PRC. The term "Taiwan, China" or "Chinese Taiwan" was also rejected because it might be construed as Taiwan being a subordinate region to the PRC. ^[1]

There is an ongoing movement of Taiwan Name Rectification Campaign to seek alteration of the formal name from "Chinese Taipei" to "Taiwan" for the representation in Olympic games or further potential international events. A nationalwide referendum was held in 2018, in which a proposal of the name change was rejected. The main argument voting against such a move was concerning that the consequence of the renaming impact is immensely uncertain, at worst, Taiwan may lose its Olympic membership under Chinese pressure, which would result in Taiwanese athletes unable to compete in the Olympics. This was the case when Taiwan was stripped of the right to host 2019 East Asian Youth Games amid its renaming issue with China during that year.^[2][3]

Origins[]

In the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established and the nationalist Republic of China (ROC) government retreated to Taiwan. As time went on, the increased official recognition of the PRC in international activities, such as when accorded recognition in 1971 by the United Nations, instead of that accorded previously to the ROC saw previously existing diplomatic relations transfer from Taipei to Beijing.^[4] The ROC needed to come to a beneficial conclusion to how it would be referred when there was participation by the PRC in the same forum.^{[citation needed]}

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) had informally been using a number of names in international Olympic activities to differentiate the ROC from the PRC. "Taiwan" was used at the 1964 Tokyo Games.^[1] In 1979, the PRC agreed to participate in IOC activities if the Republic of China was referred to as "Chinese Taipei". The Nagoya Resolution sanctioned that the Beijing Olympic Committee would be called the "Chinese Olympic Committee" and another name would need to be found for the ROC Olympic Committee (ROCOC).

The majority view of the ROC leadership at the time was that they did not want to change, "Taiwan" might imply without China or Chinese being in the name subordination to the PRC, did not represent all the regions/islands of the ROC and did not give the ROC an opportunity to assert, when wanted, a claim to territory outside of the current ROC jurisdiction.^[1]

What people refer to as Taiwan is one of several areas or islands (Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu in addition to Taiwan) and Taiwan alone did not reflect the "territorial extent" of the ROC. Furthermore, although it is true that most products from the area controlled by the ROC are labeled "made in Taiwan", the trade practices of the ROC are such that the regional area of production is used for labeling. Some wines from Kinmen are labeled "made in Kinmen", just as some perfume are labeled "made in Paris" and not "made in France".^[1]

The Taiwanese ROC government under the Kuomintang (KMT) rejected the designation of "Taiwan, China" on the grounds that this would imply subordination to the PRC.^[1] However, it also refused the names "Taiwan" and "Formosa (simplified Chinese: 福尔摩沙; traditional Chinese: 福爾摩沙)" as a means of reasserting both its claim as the only legitimate government of all of China, and its uncompromising rejection of Taiwan independence. Instead, deriving from the name of its capital city, the ROC government finally formulated the name "Chinese Taipei" instead of accepting the offer of "Taiwan" because "Chinese Taipei" signified an uncertain boundary that could exceed the ROC's actual territory of control of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu, whenever the ROC government wished to assert it. It regarded the term Chinese Taipei as both acceptably neutral and hopeful of assent from other interested parties. Its proposal found agreement. Beijing accepted the compromise position that the ROC Olympic Committee could be named the "Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee".^[1]

In April 1979, in a plenary session of the IOC, He Zhenliang, a representative of the PRC, stated:

According to the Olympic Charter, only one Chinese Olympic Committee should be recognized. In consideration of the athletes in Taiwan having an opportunity to compete in the Olympic Games, the sports constitution in Taiwan could function as a local organization of China and still remain in the Olympic Movement in the name of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. However, its anthem, flag and constitutions should be changed correspondingly.^[5]

In November 1979, in Nagoya, Japan, the International Olympic Committee, and later all other international sports federations, adopted a resolution under which the National Olympic Committee of the ROC would be recognized as the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, and its athletes would compete under the name Chinese Taipei.^[6][7] The National Olympic Committee of the ROC boycotted the Summer and Winter Games in protest of not being allowed to use the Republic of China's official flag and national anthem.^[8]

The name "Chinese Taipei" was formally accepted by the Government of the Republic of China in 1981.^[9][10] A flag bearing the emblem of its Olympic Committee against a white background as the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag was confirmed in January 1981.^[6] The agreement was signed March 23 in Lausanne by Shen Chia-ming, the President of Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, and Juan Antonio Samaranch, the President of the IOC. In 1983, the National Flag Anthem of the Republic of China was chosen as the anthem of the Chinese Taipei delegation. Taiwan has competed under this flag and name exclusively at each Games since the 1984 Winter Olympics, as well as at the Paralympics and at other international events (with the Olympic rings replaced by a symbol appropriate to the event).

Translation compromise[]

Both the Republic of China (ROC) and the People's Republic of China (PRC) agree to use the English name "Chinese Taipei". This is possible because of the ambiguity of the English word "Chinese", which may mean either the state or the culture.

In French, multiple different names have been officially used. The World Trade Organization officially translates the name as "Taipei Chinois", which has an ambiguous meaning. The text of the Nagoya Resolution uses the name "Taipei de Chine" suggesting the 'state' meaning of "Chinese". Chinese Taipei's page on the French-language IOC's website internally uses both "Taipei de Chine" and "Taipei chinois" (with a lowercase "c") for some image alt text, but the title of the page itself simply uses the English name "Chinese Taipei".^[11] When the name is announced during the Parade of Nations, the French and English announcers will both repeat the identical name "Chinese Taipei" in English.^{[citation needed]}

In contrast, no deliberately ambiguous name is available in Chinese. The PRC translates "Chinese Taipei" as Zhōngguó Táiběi (simplified Chinese: 中国台北; traditional Chinese: 中國臺北) or literally "Taipei, China", in the same manner as Zhōngguó Xiānggǎng (simplified Chinese: 中国香港; traditional Chinese: 中國香港) ("Hong Kong, China"), explicitly connoting that Taipei is a part of the Chinese state. Meanwhile, the ROC translates the name as Zhōnghuá Táiběi (simplified Chinese: 中华台北; traditional Chinese: 中華臺北), explicitly asserting the term "Chinese" as referencing the cultural entity rather than the state. The disagreement was left unresolved, with both governments using their own translation domestically, until just before the 1990 Asian Games where Taiwan would officially participate under the Chinese Taipei name in a Chinese-language region for the first time, forcing the need for an agreement.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989, the two Olympic committees signed a pact in Hong Kong where the PRC agreed to use the ROC's translation in international forums only.^{[12][better source needed]} Domestically, the PRC continues to use its own "Taipei, China" translation.^[13]

In East Asian languages that would normally transcribe directly from Chinese, an English transliteration is used instead to sidestep the issue. Thus Japan uses Chainīzu Taipei (チャイニーズ・タイペイ) while South Korea uses Chainiseu Taibei (차이니스 타이베이) for their respective-language announcements during the Olympic Games.^{[citation needed]}

During the 2020 Summer Olympics Chinese state media began downgrading "Chinese Taipei" to "China Taipei" (中國台北) or "China Taiwan" (中國台灣) with "China Taipei" being used 83% of the time.^[14]

Use of the name[]

The name "Chinese Taipei" has spilled into apolitical arenas. The PRC has successfully pressured some religious organizations and civic organizations to refer to the ROC as "Chinese Taipei".^[15] The Lions Club used to refer to Taiwan as "Chinese Taipei", but it now uses the name "Taiwan MD 300".^[16] Both the International Monetary Fund^[17] and the World Bank^[18] refer to Taiwan as "Chinese Taipei", and "Taiwan" does not appear on the member countries list of either organization. The ICSU also refers to Taiwan as "China: Taipei", right below "China CAST".^[19] Taiwan is a member economy of APEC, and its official name in the organization is "Chinese Taipei".^[20] It has also participated as an invited guest in the World Health Organization (WHO) under the name Chinese Taipei. It is the only agency of the United Nations that the ROC is able, provided it is invited each year, to participate in since 1971.^[21]

In the Miss World 1998, the government of the People's Republic of China pressured the Miss World Organization to rename Miss Republic of China 1998 to "Miss Chinese Taipei"; it has been competing ever since under that designation.^[22] The same happened in 2000, but with the Miss Universe Organization. Three years later at the Miss Universe pageant in Panama, the first official Miss China and Miss Taiwan competed alongside each other for the first time in history, prompting the PRC government to again demand that Miss Taiwan assume the title "Miss Chinese Taipei". The contestant in question, Chen Szu-yu, was famously photographed holding her two sashes.^[23][24] Today, neither Miss Universe nor Miss World, the two largest pageant contests in the world, allow Taiwan's entrants to compete under the Taiwan label. In 2005, the third-largest pageant contest, Miss Earth, initially allowed beauty contestant to compete as "Miss Taiwan"; a week into the pageant, however, her sash was updated to "Taiwan ROC". In 2008, Miss Earth changed the country's label to "Chinese Taipei".^[25]

Starting around the time of the 2004 Summer Olympics, there has been a movement in Taiwan to change all media references to the team to the "Taiwanese Team",^{[citation needed]} and the mainstream Taiwan Television (TTV) is one of the first Taiwanese media outlets to do so. Such usage remains relatively rare, however, and other cable TV channels currently refer to the ROC as the Zhonghua Team and the PRC as the Zhongguo Team, the China team or the mainland China team.^{[citation needed]}

In the 2005 International Children's Games in Coventry, United Kingdom, as well as the National Geographic World Championship, the name Chinese Taipei was used too. Chinese Taipei was also the term used by Major League Baseball for the Taiwanese teams that participated in the World Baseball Classic competitions in 2006, 2009, 2013, and 2017, competing under the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag. The Little League World Series also refers to the Taiwanese teams as being from Chinese Taipei (although the uniforms show the represented Little League International region (Asia-Pacific) instead of the home country). Tennis players play for teams using the Chinese Taipei name and Olympic flag in national competitions such as the Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Hopman Cup.^{[citation needed]}

ROC participating as Chinese Taipei in 2008 APEC Summit in Peru

Criticism of the term[]

The name is controversial in modern Taiwan; many Taiwanese see it as a result of shameful but necessary compromise, and a symbol of oppression from the mainland China forced upon them.^[26] Taiwanese Olympian Chi Cheng has described competing under the name as "aggravating, humiliating and depressing."^[27]

Confusion[]

The title "Chinese Taipei" has been described as confusing, as it leads some people to believe that "Taipei" is a country or that it is located in and/or governed by mainland China.^[26] During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, while Chinese and Taiwanese news channels referred to the team as Chinese Taipei, Japanese and South Korean outlets simply called the team Taiwan.^[28] For sporting events, the ROC team is abbreviated in Taiwan as the Zhonghua Team (中華隊), where Zhonghua is a more cultural rather than political variation of the term China. This, in effect, labels it the "Chinese Team", in the sense of a "team that is of Chinese ethnicity" as opposed to a "team from China".^{[citation needed]}

2017 Summer Universiade[]

Use of the label came under vigorous renewed criticism during the run-up to the 2017 Summer Universiade, hosted in Taiwan. Changing demographics and opinions in the country mean that more than 80% of citizens now see themselves as Taiwanese, not Chinese^[29] whereas in 1991 this figure was only 13.6%.^[30] This radical upswell in Taiwanese national identity has seen a re-appraisal and removal of "sinocentric" labels and figures established by the government during the period of Martial Law. Moved by a desire to use the country's own national flag and anthem^[31] this has included ridiculing the term "Chinese Taipei" not only in the national and international press^[32] but by Taiwanese legislators; New Power Party (NPP) Executive Chairman Huang Kuo-chang in particular lambasted the English-language guide to the Universiade for its "absurd" use of the label, illustrating this with statements extracted from the guide rendered nonsensical by their author's insistence on completely avoiding the name "Taiwan" not only when referring to the label under which Taiwanese athletes compete, but even when referring to geographical features such as the island of Taiwan itself. These statements included "Introduction of our Island: ... Chinese Taipei is long and narrow that lies north to south [sic]", and "Chinese Taipei is a special island and its Capital Taipei is a great place to experience Taipei's culture." Huang added sarcastically, "Welcome to Taipei, Chinese Taipei!"^[33]

In response, the guide was withdrawn and shortly thereafter re-issued with the designation "Taiwan" reinstated. The Department of Information and Tourism's division chief explained that Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-Je originally wrote "Taiwan" throughout his introduction of the guide, but that it was changed to "Chinese Taipei" by the International University Sports Federation (FISU) during their review of the document. Due to the public outcry over the controversy, the re-issued "Taiwan" guide was sent for printing without waiting for the response of the FISU.^[34]

Taiwan's Social Democratic Party (SDP) member Miao Po-Ya separately criticized the FISU's indiscriminate substitution of "Taiwan" with "Chinese Taipei", pointing out that the "Olympic model" does not prohibit the use of "Taiwan" and citing the example of the 2009 Kaohsiung World Games, in whose material Taiwan was referred to extensively by name, and as a country, without issue.^[35]

Miao also claimed that the FISU had also asked organizers to change "Taiwan" to "Chinese Taipei Island" and "New Taiwan Dollar" to "Chinese Taipei Dollar", suggesting that FISU Vice President Liguo Yang (who is also Secretary-General of the Federation of University Sports of China, which is under the control of the Chinese Communist Party) and Xue Yangquing (member of the Federation's media and communication committee) might have exerted China's political influence over the ostensibly non-partisan FISU to downplay Taiwan's national status.^[35]

Despite these corrections, hundreds of Taiwanese demonstrated in Taipei, demanding that Taiwan cease using "Chinese Taipei" at sporting events. In a bid to raise international awareness demonstrators unfurled huge banners reading, in English, "Taiwan is not Chinese Taipei" and "Let Taiwan be Taiwan".^[36][37]

In an apparent error, the re-issued guide still contained a passage reading, "Bravo the Bear, the Universiade mascot, is based on the Formosan black bear, a species endemic to Chinese Taipei."^[35]

Reporting on the controversy at the opening of the Universiade, the New York Times shared Taiwanese indignation over the designation, writing "Imagine if the United States were to hold a major international event, but one of the conditions was for it to call itself 'British Washington.'"^[38]

2018 referendum[]

However, the Taiwanese people voted during a referendum in November 2018 to reject a proposal to change their official Olympic-designated name from Chinese Taipei to Taiwan.^[39] The main argument for opposing the name change was worrying that Taiwan may lose its Olympic membership under Chinese pressure, which would result in athletes unable to compete in the Olympics.^[26]

Other alternative references to Taiwan[]

Terminology used to refer to the Republic of China has varied according to the geopolitical situation. Initially, the Republic of China was known simply as "China" until 1971 when the People's Republic of China replaced the Republic of China as the exclusive legitimate representative of "China" at the United Nations.^[40][41][42] In order to distinguish the Republic of China from the People's Republic of China, there has been a growing current of support for the use of "Taiwan" in place of "China" to refer to the former.^[43][44]

Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu[]

The World Trade Organization officially uses "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu" for Taiwan, but frequently also uses the shorter name "Chinese Taipei" in official documents.^[45]

As with "Chinese Taipei", the ROC and PRC also disagree on the Chinese translation of this name. The ROC uses Tái Pēng Jīn Mǎ Gèbié Guānshuì Lǐngyù (simplified Chinese: 台澎金马个别关税领域; traditional Chinese: 臺澎金馬個別關稅領域, literal translation: TPKM Separate Customs Territory), while the PRC uses Zhōngguó Táiběi Dāndú Guānshuì Qū (simplified Chinese: 中国台北单独关税区; traditional Chinese: 中國台北單獨關稅區, literal translation: Separate Customs Territory of Taipei, China).

Taiwan, Province of China[]

International organizations in which the PRC participates generally do not recognize Taiwan or allow its membership. Thus, for example, whenever the United Nations makes reference to Taiwan, which does not appear on its member countries list,^[46] it uses the designation "Taiwan, Province of China", and organizations that follow UN standards usually do the same, such as the International Organization for Standardization in its listing of ISO 3166-1 country codes. Certain web-based postal address programs also label the country designation name for Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China".

Island of Taiwan/Formosa[]

The term island of Taiwan or Formosa is used sometimes to avoid any misunderstanding about the Taiwan independence movement just referring to the island.

China or Republic of China[]

President Chen Shui-bian (far left) who attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II was seated in the first row in French alphabetical order beside the then-first lady and president of Brazil.

Some non-governmental organizations which the PRC does not participate in continue to use "China" or the "Republic of China". The World Organization of the Scout Movement is one of few international organizations that continue to use the name of "Republic of China", and the ROC affiliate as the Scouts of China. This is because such Scouting in Mainland China is very limited or not really active.^[47] Likewise, Freemasonry is outlawed in the PRC and thus the is based in Taiwan.

Countries that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, especially the ROC's older diplomatic affiliates, also refer to the ROC as "China" on occasion; for example, during the funeral of Pope John Paul II, the President of the Republic of China, Chen Shui-bian, was seated as part of the French alphabetical seating arrangement as the head of state of "Chine" between the first lady of Brazil, and the president of Cameroon.

Other non-specified areas[]

The United Nations publishes population projections for each nation, with nations grouped under geographic area; in 2015, the East Asia group contained an entry named "Other non-specified areas" referring to Taiwan. However, the 2017 publication updated the entry's name to the UN's preferred "Taiwan, Province of China".^[48][49]

Gallery of Chinese Taipei flags[]

• 

  Flag of the Republic of China, origin of the Blue Sky with a White Sun symbol used in Olympic and other "Chinese Taipei" flags

• 

  Flag of the city of Taipei, Taiwan

• 

  Chinese Taipei Olympic flag

• 

  Chinese Taipei Paralympic flag (prior to 2004)

• 

  Chinese Taipei Paralympic flag (2004-2019)

• 

  Chinese Taipei Paralympic flag

• 

  Chinese Taipei Deaflympics flag (prior to 2019)

• 

  Chinese Taipei Deaflympics flag

• 

  Chinese Taipei volleyball flag

• 

  Chinese Taipei football flag (prior to 2006)

• 

  Chinese Taipei football flag (from 2006 until 2012)

• 

  Chinese Taipei Universiade flag

• 

  Chinese Taipei WorldSkills flag

• 

  Chinese Taipei FIRST Robotics Competition flag

• 

  Flag for Chinese Taipei team in Overwatch World Cup

See also[]

• Foreign relations of Taiwan
• History of the Republic of China
• Sports in Taiwan
• Chinese Taipei at the Olympics

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flags of Chinese Taipei.

Look up Chinese Taipei in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• (in Chinese) 國民體育季刊 No. 156. Focus Topic: Olympic Model
• Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Official Website
• Swiss Residency Permits Refer the Nationality of ROC Citizens as "Chinese Taipei"