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Olympic officials apologize over seizure of national flagLONDON, CNA August 11, 2012, 12:15 am TWN    The incident occurred at the end of the bronze-medal match between Taiwan's Tseng Lin-cheng and Finland's Suvi Mikkonen, in which Tseng eventually beat her rival to clinch bronze, Taiwan's second medal at the games. To celebrate Tseng's victory, a Taiwanese man waved a large R.O.C. flag, but it was snatched from his hands by a member of the venue's security staff. Representative Shen Lyushun, who witnessed the incident, said that he was very surprised at the way the security officer handled the matter. Shen said he acted immediately to protest to Olympic officials at the venue. The security officer should have told the man to stop waving the flag instead of seizing it directly, according to Shen. After reviewing video taken at the scene, the Olympic officials agreed that the action was improper and offered an apology, Shen said. He said although he accepted the oral apology, he insisted there should be a written apology from the Olympic organizers over the incident. Due to Beijing's opposition, Taiwan competes in the Olympics and other international sporting events under the official moniker “Chinese Taipei,” and uses the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee flag in place of its national flag. The model was established based on an agreement signed in 1981 between Taiwan and the International Olympic Committee. Taiwan recently reached an understanding with organizers of the London Olympics to allow spectators to bring small R.O.C. flags into venues. Many Taiwanese spectators, however, have ignored the restriction. Wu Mei-ying, a Taiwan national who works in South Korea, came all the way to London to cheer on Taiwan, and brought with him a large R.O.C. flag.
4 Comments  Submit Your Comment August 11, 2012 krane8@ Reply Why should we be surprised? First the Japanese, now the British. They slap us in the face and apologies later. This scene tends to repeat itself every couple of years. We are getting used to it. May be next time they should apologies first and violate our dignity afterwards. August 11, 2012 piawliangjohny@ what to say.... August 13, 2012 ludahai_twn@ I don't know about the tickets in London, but when I attended the Games in Atlanta in 1996, the tickets all specifically said that only the flags of competing nations were allowed into the venue. As Taiwan competes under the moniker and flag of Chinese Taipei, the Taiwan (ROC) flag was not permitted. I don't know if the same is true for London, but there IS precedent for this. August 13, 2012 joesun@ When Chinese Communist delegates visited Taiwan, Taiwanese police seized national flags from their own people to avoid provoking Chinese. What's the difference? |
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