Ah, the world was different back in the 1960s, as Newsweek relates in a piece adapted from a new book on the 1960 Olympics:
The context was different, but the central political question as the Rome Olympics neared was the same as it is now: how should the world deal with China? The issue was debated [...]
Because it is my name! Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sign myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang! How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name!
There’s a call for [...]
China continues to screw with Taiwan’s Olympic team. Readers may recall that the Torch, with its totally politicized route, was still permitted by the Chen Administration to enter Taiwan, until at the last minute China demanded that protests along the route be banned.
Now, in another last minute deliberate undercutting of its “partner” China has been [...]
SCMP reports:
To ensure details of the event remain a surprise until the last minute on August 8, design and production teams as well as the cast had to sign a confidentiality agreement before they were allowed to work on the programme. Any breach could result in jail sentences of up to seven years, according to [...]
Ed Wong of the NY Times offers a fairly good discussion of the Taiwan-China Olympic relationship in the NY Times that highlights many of the stupidities that result from China’s politicization of the Olympics. To wit:
Sports announcers in China often use the name Zhongguo Taipei when talking about Taiwanese athletes, and signs at sports events [...]
A friend of mind offers this excellent, thoughtful, long and very detailed blog post about the “protests” by Chinese in New Zealand.
“Kill the pig! Cut his throat! Kill the pig! Bash him in!” - William Golding, Lord of the Flies
Sunday afternoon saw Auckland subjected to a mass display of ugly Chinese nationalism. Thousands of [...]
A classic piece on the Torch in Oz. The whole thing must be read, from the Chinese guards in a shoving match with Aussie police, to Beijing’s busing in protesters to drown out the pro-democracy voices:
If I hadn’t seen the circus with my own eyes, I’d think the $2 million we spent running a torch [...]
The intense three-sided competition between Taiwanese and diaspora Chinese (PRC + KMT) in the US was on display in San Francisco in the Christian Science Monitor this week:
Betty Yuan left Taiwan for San Francisco in 1981, when mainland China was just beginning to open its economy.
Now, a booming China is hosting the 2008 Olympics and [...]
Bad-faith, in-your-face negotiations are normal for China. Anyone recall how Beijing “ordained” a Bishop for its faux Church during negotiations with the Vatican, or how it flew an ambassador to India for talks, only to have him claim an entire Indian state? The latest example of this is the negotiation over the Olympic Torch. The [...]
More fun out of China. First, Reuters reports that Chinese dancers stole the ROC flag, claiming that Taiwan is not a nation.
“This incident made us really mad. They have never tried to steal our flags before,” said Antonio Chen, director general of the ministry’s West Asia department. “Usually (China) goes through diplomatic channels to [...]
The Christian Science Monitor, which sometimes does good work on Taiwan, published absolute dreck the other day on the Olympic Torch refusal by Taiwan. The writer, Peter Ford, has clearly spent too much time hanging out with people who support Beijing, resulting in a one-sided and viciously slanted piece on Taiwan and the Torch. The [...]
Tom Tancredo, the conservative Republican from Colorado, sent this around:
+++++++++++++++
Tancredo Asks Olympic Committee to Play Fair, Stop Discriminating Against Taiwan
Lawmaker Introduces Resolution Urging IOC to Let Taiwan Compete Using the National Name, Flag and Anthem of Its Own Choosing in 2008 Beijing Games
( WASHINGTON , D.C. ) – U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-CO) introduced legislation [...]
Amazingly, the WHO rejected Taiwan’s bid to enter it. After all, it had only been ten years in a row….
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) lodged a protest yesterday with the World Health Organization Secretariat over its rejection of Taiwan’s application for WTO membership this year.
Taiwan’s bid to join the WHO is not an issue that can [...]
The BBC reports on the Torch Relay Row and the recent China-”Taiwan” Forum…offering a peek at how the news is constructed. The Beeb opens with the following two sentences:
Chinese President Hu Jintao has called for closer economic and cultural exchanges between China and Taiwan.
Mr Hu was speaking at a China-Taiwan forum in Beijing, aimed at [...]
The Taipei Times put out a hard-hitting editorial on the vapid International Olympic Committee and the torch situation:
The disingenuousness of the International Olympic ommittee (IOC) is breathtaking. To allow China to host an Olympics at all should have been warning enough; for IOC officials to now feign surprise at Taiwan’s unhappiness with its proposed [...]
TAIWAN BLOG FEED35togoThe Bala DailyBattlepandaBecoming TaiwaneseBelligeretronBentBig Ell's BlogBlack American Lawyer in ChinaBloggers in TaiwanBourdieu BoyChewin' on the ChungConductor's NotebookCraig Ferguson ImagesCross-Strait Economics BlogThe Daily Bubble TeaDavid on FormosaDoubting to shuo?Far-Eastern Sweet PotatoFideCogitActiofilinationfollowing an unknown pathThe Foreigner in FormosaGary EFL TaiwanThe Gentle RantGetting a Leg UpHanjie's BlogHighway 11Ilha Formosa - Keeping up with the War GodInvestorbloggerIslaFormosaIt's Not Democracy,It's A Conspiracy!Jeff's TaiwanJerome F. Keating's writingsKelakeKeywordsLaowiseassthe leaky penLetters from TaiwanLief in TaiwanThe Life of BrianThe Mandate of Heavenmedia diarymemoirs on a rainy dayMisadventures in TaiwanMixed Eggs I have MetMoShangMy Several WorldsNaruwan FormosaThe Nebulon FryThe New Hampshire Bushman in Taiwan and The WorldNew WritingNi HowdyNotes from a Small IslandNotes of a former native speakerThe Only Redhead in TaiwanPashanPatrick CowsillPinyin NewsPoagao's JournalPortnoy in BetweenPrince RoyRankThe Real TaiwanRed A -- the BlogThe RegulatoryR.O.C. the BoatSanBeiJiScott Sommers' Taiwan BlogThe Shorty MethodSofa in the SkySponge BearStinky TofuSteven CrookStranger in an even Stranger LandThe Tainan DonThe Taipei KidTaipei TrashTaiwan Airpower BlogThe Taiwan ChroniclesTaiwan CompositeThe TaiwandeskTaiwanese Heart, Global PerspectivesTaiwan Matters!TaiwanonymousTaiwan PunditTaiwan Tourism Bureau BlogTalking TaiwaneseTaoyuan NightsThat's Impossible: Politics from TaiwanThirsty GhostsTumbling in TaiwanWandering to TamshuiThe Wild EastWild at HeartWinkler PartnersWriter's Block