Chinese Taipei - Origins

Origins

After the Republic of China (ROC) lost its seat in the United Nations in 1971, more and more countries terminated their diplomatic relations with Taipei and established new ties with Beijing, the People's Republic of China (PRC). In diplomatic circles, Beijing was on the rise and the ROC found that in order to participate in some international forums it would have to make difficult concessions towards the PRC. One of these concessions was acceptance of the term "Chinese Taipei" as a name. The first major international organisation to use this name was the International Olympic Committee (IOC). By 1979, the IOC had finally decided that the Beijing Olympic Committee would be the "Chinese Olympic Committee" and another name would need to be found for the Olympic Committee on Taiwan.

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.

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. The National Olympic Committee of the ROC boycotted the 1980 Olympics (both the winter and summer games) in protest of this resolution.

The Chinese nationalism asserted by the top leadership of the ROC government during the 1970s meant that a name such as "Taiwan" would be unacceptable to them. The ROC leadership insisted that there be some kind of “Chinese-ness” to the name under which the island's team competed.

The ROC government turned down chances to use the name "Taiwan" (for example, at the 1976 Montreal Olympics), although the team had previously marched as "Taiwan" in opening ceremonies (for example, in Tokyo). One repeated contention recorded in the ministry reports is that both parts of divided China are Chinese territories and the people in one part are no less Chinese than those in the other. Another argument holds that the jurisdiction of the ROC Olympic Committee (ROCOC) includes Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu in addition to Taiwan, and thus the name “Taiwan” does not reflect the “territorial extent” of the ROCOC. Furthermore, although it is true that most products from 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 is labeled “made in Paris” and not “made in France.” Finally, it was argued that the people of the ROC were Chinese and not “Taiwanese,” so the word Taiwan was not appropriate.

The ROC government under the Kuomintang (KMT) rejected the designation of "Taiwan, China" on the grounds that this would imply subordination to the People's Republic of China. 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 sole 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".

The name "Chinese Taipei" was formally accepted by the Taipei government in 1981. A flag bearing the emblem of its Olympic Committee against a white background as the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag was confirmed in January 1981. The agreement was signed on 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, National Flag Anthem was chosen as the anthem of the Chinese Taipei delegation. The Republic of China 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.