US-based organisation urges IOC to allow Taiwan's team to compete under name 'Taiwan' instead of 'Chinese Taipei'

The letter was addressed to IOC President Thomas Bach and members of the IOC executive board and sent two days before the conclusion of the 2024 Summer Games in Paris, according to a FAPA press release.

"Taiwan is an independent, sovereign country, and this is a long-established 'status quo'," FAPA President Kao Su-mei said in the statement, arguing that Taiwan's Olympic team was "fully entitled to compete proudly under the name 'Taiwan'."

"The IOC, in blatant disregard for the principles of 'non-discrimination' and 'political neutrality' enshrined in the Olympic Charter, has forced Taiwan's team to use the derogatory name 'Chinese Taipei,' which undermines Taiwan's independent statehood and national dignity," she said.

The letter was led by the Washington-based FAPA and co-signed by 23 overseas Taiwanese organizations around the world, including the Asociacion de Taiwan en Argentina, the All Japan Taiwanese Union, the Taiwan Association in Sweden, and the Taiwanese American Citizens League.

The FAPA president further criticised China as being behind the name issue, as it continues to bully Taiwan and exert political pressure on the IOC, as reported by Focus Taiwan.

The groups, in that letter, stressed that the "unfair Taiwan-specific restrictions" have been extended to fans, citing incidents in which items with the word "Taiwan" were "unreasonably prohibited and forcefully snatched from Taiwanese supporters by Olympic staff members or Chinese spectators."

It added that the FAPA and other co-signatory organizations "strongly condemn these violent acts."

Those actions "not only violated the Olympic spirit and principles set forth in the Olympic Charter" but also infringed on the "freedom of speech" of Taiwanese spectators at the Olympics to express support for the athletes from their country, 'Taiwan,'" the letter said.

Meanwhile, they further called on IOC President Bach and the full executive board "not to succumb to China's political pressure" and immediately stop its "discriminatory requirement" for athletes from Taiwan to compete under the fictitious name "Chinese Taipei."

The group, in their letter, said that the name Chinese Taipei "falsely implies that Taiwan is part of China [PRC], even though Taiwan has never been ruled by the PRC for a single day."

The name Chinese Taipei, finalized in the Lausanne Agreement in March 1981 between the IOC and the Republic of China (Taiwan) Olympic Committee, enabled athletes from Taiwan to compete in the Olympics after it missed the games in 1976 over the name issue.

As Taiwan's athletes returned to the Olympics in 1984, they have been competing under the Chinese Taipei name ever since, Focus Taiwan reported. (ANI)