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Chinese Taipei
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Chinese Taipei is the designated name used by the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, to participate in some international organizations and almost all sporting events, such as the Olympics and Asian Games. The international community commonly employs the term "Chinese Taipei" due to several considerations arising out of the complexities of the political status of Taiwan and cross-strait relations. First, the People's Republic of China (PRC) objects to the use of the official title "Republic of China" as lending legitimacy to a government it considers defunct or suggesting that there are two Chinas.
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Encyclopedia
Chinese Taipei is the designated name used by the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, to participate in some international organizations and almost all sporting events, such as the Olympics and Asian Games. The international community commonly employs the term "Chinese Taipei" due to several considerations arising out of the complexities of the political status of Taiwan and cross-strait relations. First, the People's Republic of China (PRC) objects to the use of the official title "Republic of China" as lending legitimacy to a government it considers defunct or suggesting that there are two Chinas. Second, PRC objects to the use of the common name "Taiwan" because it suggests that Taiwan is an entity separate from China. Both the ROC and PRC officially claim to be the sole legitimate government of all China, including Taiwan.
Origins
The end of active hostilities in the Chinese Civil War left two political entities controlling disproportionate territories. The People's Republic of China, established in 1949, controlled mainland China. The Republic of China, established in 1912, had retreated to recently acquired Taiwan and maintained control of nearby islands and a number of islands on the coast of mainland China. Both regimes vied for international recognition as the sole legitimate government of China. In the 1950s through to the mid 1970s, the Republic of China was recognised as the government of China by most countries of the NATO bloc and most international organisations, including the International Olympic Committee and the United Nations. By contrast, the People's Republic of China was recognised as the government of China by most Soviet bloc countries, members of the non-aligned movement, and a very few Western governments.
After the 1972 normalization of relations agreed between Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong, Western governments increasingly came to accept the PRC's legitimacy and to extend it diplomatic recognition. The China seat in some international organizations came to be occupied by People's Republic of China diplomats in place of their Republic of China counterparts. But in others, the ROC continued to have representation even after accession by the PRC. In these, the ROC's designation going forward arose as a fraught diplomatic issue.
The ROC government under the Kuomintang (KMT) rejected designation as "Taiwan, China" on grounds that this would imply subordination to the People's Republic of China. It also refused the names "Taiwan" and "Formosa " as a means of reasserting both its claim as the sole legitimate government of all of China, and its uncompromising rejection of Taiwan independence. Instead, deriving from the name of its capital city, it proposed Chinese Taipei, a term it regarded as both acceptably neutral and hopeful of assent from other interested parties. Its proposal found agreement.
In November 1979, the International Olympic Committee, and later all other international sports federations, adopted a resolution under which the National Olympic Committee of the ROC would be recognized as the National Olympic Committee of Chinese Taipei, and its athletes would compete under the name Chinese Taipei and a flag bearing the emblem of its Olympic Committee against a white background as the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag. It has competed under this flag exclusively at each Games since the 1984 Summer Olympics, as well as at Paralympics and at other international events.
The Chinese Taipei Olympic flag is not used exclusively in unofficial media, however. Exceptions include CBS's association of the Chinese Taipei Olympic country code "TPE" with the national flag of the Republic of China at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the use of animated image of a waving flag of the Republic of China on the Australian Baseball Federation Web site during the 2004 Summer Olympics.
Translation compromise
Both sides agree to use the English name "Chinese Taipei". This is possible because of the ambiguity of the English word "Chinese". In 1979, the International Olympic Committee passed a resolution in Nagoya, Japan, restoring the rights of the Chinese Olympic Committee within the IOC, meanwhile renaming the Taipei-based Olympic Committee "Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee". Since then, and until 1989 the PRC translated "Chinese Taipei" as "Zhongguo Taipei" (simplified chinese: ????, traditional chinese: ????, hanyu pinyin: Zhongguó Táibei), connoting that Taipei is a part of the Chinese state. By contrast, the Republic of China government translated it as "Zhonghua Taipei" (traditional chinese: ???? or ????, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhonghuá Táibei) in Chinese, which references the term "China" as the cultural or ethnic entity, rather than the state. In 1981 the former Republic of China Olympic Committee confirmed its acceptance of the Nagoya resolution, but translated "Chinese Taipei" to "Zhonghua Taipei". In 1989, the two Olympic committees signed a pact in Hong Kong, clearly defining the use of "Zhonghua Taipei" . The mainland side had been observing the Hong Kong pact and using "Zhonghua Taipei" in stipulated areas ever since, but on other occasions, the version of "Zhongguo Taipei" was still in use following past practice, especially in official media references . In the Olympic Games opening ceremony, when each country's team normally proceeds in alphabetical order in English, the Chinese Taipei (TPE) team does not follow China (PRC), but instead takes a place in the procession as if its name were "Taiwan," following countries such as Switzerland and Syria instead. In Beijing 2008 it followed Japan and preceded the Central African Republic . This ordering was based on the stroke number and order of each team's name in simplified Chinese, the official script in mainland China.
Use of the name
The name "Chinese Taipei" has spilled into apolitical arenas. The PRC has successfully pressured some religious organizations and civic organizations to refer to the ROC as "Chinese Taipei". . The Lions Club used to refer to the Republic of China as "Chinese Taipei", but it now uses the name "Taiwan MD 300". Both the International Monetary Fund. and the World Bank refer to the Republic of China as "Chinese Taipei", and "Taiwan" does not appear on the member countries list of both organisations. The ICSU also refers to the Republic of China as "China Taipei", right below "China CAST". The Republic of China is a member economy of APEC, and its official name in the organisation is "Chinese Taipei".
In 1998, the government of the People's Republic of China pressured the Miss World Organization to rename Miss Republic of China 1998 to "Miss Chinese Taipei", it has been competing ever since under that designation. The same happened in 2000, but with the Miss Universe Organization. Three years later at the Miss Universe pageant in Panama, the first official Miss China and Miss Taiwan competed alongside each other for the first time in history, prompting the Chinese government to again demand that Miss Taiwan assume the title "Miss Chinese Taipei". The contestant in question, Chen Szu-yu, was famously photographed tearfully holding her two sashes . Today, neither Miss Universe nor Miss World, the two largest pageant systems in the world, allow Taiwan's entrants to compete under the Taiwan label. In 2005, the third largest pageant system, Miss Earth, initially allowed beauty contestant Li Fan Lin to compete as "Miss Taiwan"; after a week into the pageant, however, her sash was updated to "Taiwan ROC". However, as of 2008, the official name for the ROC in this contest is, again "Chinese Taipei".
The title "Chinese Taipei" leads some people to believe that "Taipei" is a country. To reduce confusion, news agencies might remove "Chinese Taipei" references from press releases of international organizations and simply refer to the ROC as "Taiwan". During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, NBC television clarified each time the name was used that "Chinese Taipei" referred to Taiwan. Japanese and South Korean televisions were more impatient and simply dropped "Chinese Taipei" altogether in its reports, using "Taiwan" instead. For sporting events, the ROC team is abbreviated in Taiwan as the Zhonghua Team (???; Zhonghua being a more cultural rather than political variation of the term China), which, in effect, labels it the "Chinese Team".
Starting around the time of the 2004 Summer Olympics, there has been a movement in Taiwan to change all media references to the team to the "Taiwanese Team", and the mainstream Taiwan Television (TTV) is one of the first Taiwanese media outlets to do so. Such usage remains relatively rare, however, and other cable TV channels currently refer to the ROC as the Zhonghua Team and the PRC as the Zhongguo Team, the mainland team or the mainland China team.
In the International Children's Games 2005 in Coventry, as well as the National Geographic World Championship, the name Chinese Taipei was used. Chinese Taipei was also the term used by Major League Baseball for the ROC team that participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, the team is also scheduled to use this name for their team in the 2009 World Baseball Classic, competing under the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag.
Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu
The World Trade Organization officially uses "Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu" for the Republic of China, but "Chinese Taipei" is used very often since the official designation is too unwieldy. It is a politically neutral name; there is not any reference to what it is separated from (presumably, the People's Republic of China). Even official documents within WTO refer to the "separated customs territory..." as "Chinese Taipei".
Other references to the Republic of China
References used in the international context to refer to the Republic of China or Taiwan differ according to the type of the organisation.
International organisations that only admit sovereign states generally do not recognise the Republic of China or allow its membership. Presently, the ROC is recognized by states. Thus, for example, whenever the United Nations makes reference to Taiwan, which doesnt appear on its member countries list it uses the designation "Taiwan, Province of China". Certain web-based postal address programs also label the country designation name for Taiwan as "Taiwan, Province of China". Inter-governmental organisations use a variety of terms to designate ROC. Some non-governmental organisations which the PRC does not participate in continue to use "China" or the "Republic of China". The World Organization of the Scout Movement is one of few international organizations that continue to refer to the Republic of China as "China", and the ROC affiliate as the Scouts of China. This is because such Scouting organizations do not exist on the mainland People's Republic of China.
Countries that maintain diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, especially the ROC's older diplomatic affiliates, also refer to the ROC as "China" on occasion; for example, during the funeral of Pope John Paul II, the President of the Republic of China Chen Shui-bian was seated as part of the French alphabetical seating arrangement between Marisa Letícia, the first lady of Brazil, and the president of Cameroon as the head of state of "Chine."
See also
External links
- Official Website
- Type "TPE" in the following flight schedule websites to see references to "Taipei, Chinese Taipei":
- Articles regarding the United Nations' reference to Taiwan
- Information About Japan Asia Airways, a subsidiary of Japan Airlines created not to offend Beijing
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