Taiwan has acceded to the International Olympic Committee’s demands to have delegations take part in the Beijing Winter Olympics ceremonies, following “several notices” over the country’s withdrawal from the ceremonies, its Olympic Committee said on Monday.
Because Taiwan’s team is small—with only four athletes competing—athletes and team officials will return home after completing their events, skipping the closing ceremony as well, the Sports Ministry said Saturday.
Taiwan had received “several notices” from the International Olympic Committee “requiring all delegations to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to cooperate in sending personnel to attend the opening and closing ceremonies,” Taiwan’s Olympic Committee said.
After consulting with the Sports Ministry, the Taiwanese government decided to make changes to its plan and cooperate with the policy in respect of the Olympic spirit, the committee said, without specifying the number of delegates expected to participate.
A senior Taiwan official claimed that Taiwan refused to send any delegation due to concerns that Beijing could “downgrade” Taiwan’s status by putting its athletes alongside those from the Chinese “special administrative region” of Hong Kong at the opening ceremony.
Several Western countries, led by the United States, have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Games, which begin on Friday, in protest of the Chinese regime’s “ongoing genocide and crimes against humanity in Xinjiang.”
Taiwan’s Foreign Affairs Minister Joseph Wu said that China’s hosting of the Winter Olympics appears to be “giving the impression to the international community that nothing bad is happening” in Xinjiang.
“We should not forget about all these atrocities or genocide or crimes against humanity. We have been watching these issues very carefully. We will not forget about all this only because of the Winter Olympics,” Wu said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald on Monday.
“We don’t lock onto them because this will be considered a very hostile act, but we continue to monitor them in case they are coming too close, or they become more threatening, we would be able to take action at any time,” he said.
Taiwan competes at the Olympic Games under the name “Chinese Taipei” because Beijing regards democratically-ruled Taiwan as part of “One China” and as Chinese territory.
