Athletes from Taiwan do not have the luxury of flying their own flag when enjoying their hard-earned moment at the podium. They can only march to the flag song of the Republic of China (ROC) and see their medal count be tallied under the rather confusing appellation, Chinese Taipei, which is a child of political convenience and cannot be found on any legitimate map.
This bewildering state of affairs is in part due to decisions made by the Kuomintang-led ROC government on Taiwan during the 1980s, as it tenaciously held onto its China-centric identity despite losing the Chinese civil war and escaping to the Taiwanese islands in 1949. Furthermore, three decades into the cross-strait divide, the United States dropped its diplomatic recognition of the ROC in 1979.
As its avowed foe, the communist forces that became the People’s Republic of China (PRC) grew stronger on the international stage, the ROC became diplomatically isolated by the global community. At a 1981 meeting with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) at its Lausanne headquarters in Switzerland, the ROC compromised by accepting the title “Chinese Taipei” over “Taiwan,” since both the ROC and the PRC felt the nonsensical nomenclature protected their political interests and claim over China.
As Taiwanese athletes gear up for the 2024 Paris Olympics, here’s a chronicle of events that have shaped Taiwan’s Olympics odyssey:
1932–1936
- Taiwanese athletes compete at the Olympics as part of the imperial Japanese team.
- Chang Hsing-hsien (張星賢) becomes the first Taiwanese athlete to compete at the Olympics in 1932, coming in fourth at the men’s 400-meter hurdles at the Los Angeles Summer Games under the Japanese name Seiken Cho.
- Taiwanese composer Jiang Wenye (江文也) receives an Honorable Mention at the 1936 Berlin Summer Games in the Arts Competitions for his composition “Formosan Dance (臺灣舞曲)” under the Japanese name Bunya Koh.
1945
- WWII ends with Fat Man and Little Boy sending mushroom clouds over Japan, with the ROC claiming the former Japanese colony of Taiwan.
- The Chinese civil war between Chiang Kai-shek’s ROC army and Mao Zedong’s communist forces ravages China.
1947
- February 28 Massacre.
1949
- The PRC wins the Chinese civil war.
- The ROC retreats to Taiwan from China.
- The ROC declares martial law over Taiwan.
1960
- Yang Chuan-kwang (also known as C.K. Yang, Maysang Kalimud in Amis, 楊傳廣) wins Silver at the Men’s decathlon at the Rome Summer Games, becoming Taiwan’s first Olympic medalist.
1964
- The Olympic flame lands at Taipei Songshan Airport as part of the torch-relay circuit leading up to the Tokyo Summer Games, marking the first time the Hellenic fire was hosted in Taiwan.
1968
- Chi Cheng (紀政) wins Bronze at the Women’s 80-meter hurdles at the Mexico City Summer Games, becoming Taiwan’s second Olympic medalist.
1971
- The ROC withdraws from the United Nations.
- The PRC takes over the ROC’s twin seats in the UN, for the ROC held a permanent Security Council position and enjoyed General Assembly representation as a founding member of the UN.
1975
- Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of the ROC dies.
1976
- The ROC receives an offer to compete as “Taiwan” at the Montreal Summer Games, but the KMT government considered the name provincial and the omission of “ROC” as an insult because they saw themselves as “free China,” and withdrew their entire team.
1977
- The Voyager Golden Records are sent to space. Curated to educate alien intelligence about Earth’s humanity, the memory capsule contains both a greeting recorded in Hokkien (“Lín chia̍h-pá — bē?”) and a photo of four Olympians — Su Wen-ho (蘇文和) of Taiwan, Motsapi Moorosi of Lesotho, Valeriy Borzov of USSR, and Edwin Roberts of Trinidad — competing in the 200m race at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
1979
- The US switches diplomatic recognition from the ROC to the PRC.
- US President Jimmy Carter signs the “Taiwan Relations Act” into law.
- The IOC’s Nagoya Resolution confers on Taiwan the name “Chinese Taipei,” banning the use of the ROC flag or national anthem at any international sports competition.
1980
- The ROC government boycotts the Lake Placid Winter Games to protest the Nagoya Resolution.
1981
- The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) is established after the IOC and the ROC make a pact — the Lausanne Agreement — regarding the revised name, flag, and emblem of the Taiwan team.
1984 — today
- Martial law is lifted by the KMT government on Taiwan in 1987; Taiwan enters a period of full democratization with multiple political parties and direct presidential elections since 1996.
- Taiwan still has to compete at the Olympics and other international sports tournaments as “Chinese Taipei.”
2004
- Coming first in the women’s 49kg category in taekwondo at the Athens Summer Games, Chen Shih-hsin (陳詩欣) becomes the first Taiwanese athlete to win Gold at the Olympics. Winning Men’s flyweight in the taekwondo category on the same day, Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎) quickly joins her as the second-ever Taiwanese athlete to win Olympic Gold.
2018
- A national referendum on applying as “Taiwan” to compete in international sport competitions fails to pass; 54.80% of those who went to the polls vetoed the suggestion partly in fear of retribution from the PRC and being forced out of the Olympics.
2021
- Taiwan bags 12 medals in a record-breaking feat at the Tokyo Summer Games that were delayed for one year due to the global Covid-19 pandemic.
2024
- 60 athletes from Taiwan will compete in France this summer.
- Taiwan will join the Cultural Olympiad for the second-ever time at the Paris Summer Games. The 120-plus performers including RuPaul’s Drag Race’s first Taiwanese queen Nymphia Wind aim to “share Taiwan’s journey and commitment to embracing values such as freedom, equality, gender diversity, ethnic identity, mother tongue preservation, and multiculturalism with everyone.”
The ROC’s new President William Lai Ching-te, whose election campaign sported “Team Taiwan” baseball jackets and a cheerleading anthem, has pledged to establish a ministry of sports to promote nationwide fitness. Despite the bullying antics of China, sports diplomacy can translate into a new arena for Taiwan’s international engagement, provided that reporters and broadcasters cover these stories with proper context — be like the NHK broadcaster who stated simply “this is Taiwan” when the Taiwanese team entered the Tokyo Olympics stadium in 2021 under the banner of “Chinese Taipei.”
TL;DR?
Prior to the end of WWII, Taiwanese athletes competed as delegates from a Japanese colony at the Olympics. After the ROC lost the war over China to the PRC and retreated to the Taiwanese islands, Taiwan’s athletes marched under different banners ranging from “Taiwan” to “Formosa” between 1960 and 1972. A 1981 agreement struck by the IOC and the ROC led to the birth of “Chinese Taipei” to protect the ROC’s claim to the whole of China. Today, Taiwan cannot compete as Taiwan due to China’s interference. Journalists and broadcasters can help clarify by simply replacing “Chinese Taipei” with “Team Taiwan.”
RESOURCES
- Infographics on Taiwan’s 36 Olympic medals (2021 tally)
- “What’s in a Name? A Chinese Taipei Story” (TaiwanPlus)
- “How ‘Chinese Taipei’ came about” (Taipei Times editorial)
- Agreement Between IOC, Lausanne and CTOC, Taipei (CTOC)
- Taiwan’s lineup for the 2024 Paris Olympics (Sports Administration)
