Alexa
  • Directory of Taiwan

Taiwan should change name at 2020 Olympics

Taiwan should change name at 2020 Olympics

Taiwan should change name at 2020 Olympics

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan should use the name of the island at the Olympics instead of the term “Chinese Taipei,” activists said Friday, backed up by an online petition from Japan.
A range of social movements as well as legislator Freddy Lim of the New Power Party held a news conference pushing to “let Taiwan be Taiwan” because “Chinese Taipei is not Taiwan,” a reference to the name that the island is forced to use due to pressure from Beijing, which insists Taiwan is not a sovereign nation.
It was time to abandon complicated and unrealistic formulas and give the country the respect it deserved by using its only true name, Taiwan, the activists said.
The demand followed the news that more than 37,000 people supported a bid at the website change.org launched by Japanese citizens to have the Olympics drop the name “Chinese Taipei” in favor of “Taiwan.” That was 70 percent of the number needed for a successful petition on the website, though the action was not binding in any way, reports pointed out.
The next Olympics are scheduled to take place in Tokyo in 2020, with the campaign targeting that event for the name change.
Dropping the official name of “Republic of China” in favor of a more realistic appellation has been a long-term ideal of Taiwan Independence activists and of many in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party. With the party now again in power, many supporters have voiced the hope that the new government would take action and promote the name Taiwan in the international arena, in particular when pushing for its membership in global organizations.