Chinese Taipei

Chinese Taipei
Chinese Taipei's Olympic Flag
Traditional Chinese	中華台北
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Tongyong Pinyin Jhōnghuá Táiběi

Chinese Taipei is the designated name used by the democratic island country officially known as the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, to participate in most international organizations, due to the persistent diplomatic pressure from the mainland communist People's Republic of China (PRC), which does not recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan) as an independent sovereign country. Currently, the international community frequently avoids the use of the ROC's preferred titles, the "Republic of China (Taiwan)", "Republic of China", or "Taiwan", so as to avoid offending the PRC by implying that the ROC (Taiwan) and the PRC are two separate countries when participating in international organizations.

Origins

The People's Republic of China (PRC), which does not recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan) and claims the island of Taiwan as part of its own territory, effectively blocks the Republic of China from using their official national title "Republic of China" in international organizations. To the PRC, the name "Republic of China" suggests either the continued existence of a country that the PRC believes it has replaced or the existence of two Chinas, a contravention of the PRC's "One-China policy".

When international organizations downgraded or even expelled Taiwan in the 1970s and 1980s in favor of recognizing the PRC, the Kuomintang (KMT)-controlled ROC (Taiwan) government refused to be designated as "Taiwan, China" because the title would imply that it was subordinate to the People's Republic of China government. At the time, the Kuomintang government also rejected the names "Taiwan" and "Formosa (simplified Chinese: 福尔摩沙; traditional Chinese: 福爾摩沙)" because it still considered itself the sole legitimate government of all of China and refused any hint of Taiwan independence. Therefore, it chose what was considered a politically neutral title, "Chinese Taipei", after its capital, Taipei.

In November 1979, the International Olympic Committee and later all the international sports federations adopted a resolution which recognized the National Olympic Committee of Taiwan as the National Olympic Committee of Chinese Taipei and every sports team or athlete from Taiwan would compete as Chinese Taipei. Under this resolution, Chinese Taipei adopted the Chinese Taipei Olympic Flag, which consists of the emblem of the National Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee on a white background, and since the 1984 Summer Olympics has participated always with this name and under this flag at the Olympics, Paralympics, and other international events.

The flag, however, is not recognized on some media references. In 1992, during the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, CBS used the flag of the Republic of China with the official "TPE" code. During the 2004 Summer Olympics, the Australian Baseball Federation Web site used a waving National Flag of the ROC (Taiwan) to refer to the democratic island country. Many news networks and web sites also prefer to use the National Flag of the Republic of China (Taiwan) rather than the designated Chinese Taipei flag.

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: 中国台北, traditional chinese: 中國臺北, hanyu pinyin: Zhōngguó Táiběi), connoting that Taipei is a part of the Chinese state. By contrast, the Republic of China (Taiwan) government translated it as "Jhonghua Taipei" (traditional chinese: 中華台北 or 中華臺北, Tongyong pinyin: Jhōnghuá Táiběi) in Chinese, which references the term "China" as the cultural or ethnic entity, rather than the state. In 1981 the Republic of China (Taiwan) Olympic organization 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, the Chinese Taipei team does not follow 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 .

Consequences

The name "Chinese Taipei" has spilled into apolitical arenas. The PRC has successfully pressured some religious organizations and organizations such as the Lions Club to have Taiwan referred to as to "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, Szu-yu Chen, 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". There was no subsequent backlash or government disapproval from the PRC over this move.

Chinese Taipei Paralympic Flag

The title "Chinese Taipei" leads some people to believe that "Taipei" is a country. To reduce confusion, news agencies remove "Chinese Taipei" references from press releases of international organizations and simply refer to the ROC as "Taiwan". For sporting events, the Taiwanese team is abbreviated in Taiwan as the Zhonghua Team (中華隊; 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. There are currently also cable TV channels that refer to Taiwan as the Zhonghua Team and China as the Zhongguo 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 being used by Major League Baseball for the ROC (Taiwan) team that participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, which it will presumably continue to do in the future.

Separate Customs Territory of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu

The World Trade Organization uses this name for the ROC (Taiwan), but "Chinese Taipei" is used unofficially since the official designation is too unwieldy. There is not any reference to what it is separated from (ie, the People's Republic of China). Its traditional chinese version is 臺澎金馬個別關稅領域, while the simplified chinese one is 台澎金马个别关税领域. Hanyu pinyin romanization is: Táipéng Jīn Mǎ Gèbié Guānshuì Lǐngyù. It is a politically neutral name.

Other references to Taiwan and the ROC

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. Thus, for example, whenever the United Nations makes reference to Taiwan, 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 (Taiwan). 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 (Taiwan), especially the ROC (Taiwan)'s older diplomatic affiliates, also refer to the ROC (Taiwan) as "China" on occasion; for example, during the funeral of Pope John Paul II, the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) 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

• History of the Republic of China
• Flag of the Republic of China
• Chinese Taipei national basketball team
• Chinese Taipei national baseball team
• Chinese Taipei flag
• Chinese Taipei national football team
• Chinese Taipei national ice hockey team
• Political status of Taiwan
• Foreign relations of the Republic of China
• Four-stage Theory of the Republic of China
• Sport in Taiwan
• National Banner Song
• Taiwan Province
• Kuomintang

External links

• Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Official Website
• Type "TPE" in the following flight schedule websites to see references to "Taipei, Chinese Taipei":
  • San Francisco International Airport Flight Schedule
  • Los Angeles International Airport Flight Schedule

• Articles regarding the United Nations' reference to Taiwan
  • Taipei Times Article on the UN Secretary General's Reaction to the 9-21 Earthquake in Taiwan
  • UN General Assembly Expressed Sympathy to the Government and People of China for the Earthquake in the Province of Taiwan

• Information About Japan Asia Airways, a subsidiary of Japan Airlines created not to offend Beijing
  • Japan Asia Airways (Official Site in Japanese)
  • English Background Information
• Swiss Residency Permits Refer the Nationality of ROC Citizens as "Chinese Taipei"