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I read something similar in the news a few weeks ago… At a women’s soccer game in China, the crowd would boo the Japanese players mercilessly, and call really disgusting remarks to them. At a preliminary friendly match!

To think that China will be hosting the olympics next year is DISGUSTING. They are not civilized enough to host the event, that much is clear.

As a Taiwaness I am deeply offended and insulted by the barbaric act of un-civilized reckless Chinese.

WCG should at least warn those Chinese their act is not appropriate.

Yea, the same thing happened last year during an award ceremony of “The International Children’s Games” in Bangkok, Thailand where grown chinese adults tried to rip the Taiwanese flag out of the child’s hands, you can see it for yourself here…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaB6QSUmtBo

If you read the BBC’s biography on Mao, it’s obvious that Taiwan is, in fact, and in every concievable way, an illegal nation (and this fact is still understood by the United Nations, by the way). The Communists won the war in every way imaginable, militarily, socially, and politically, but the Nationalist government refused to surrender, and instead went and stole the territory of Taiwan from China. Taiwan then declared itself the “real” China, despite the fact that mainland China had 99% of the world’s Chinese population. To put this in perspective, imagine if the South had took over Rhode Island after being beaten by the North in the American Civil War. No one in their right mind would declare Rhode Island the “real” America, would they?

What’s bizarre is that no one disagrees with what I’ve just said except for bizarre right-wing extremists here in America.

The uncivilized Chinese communists should be seen for what they are: thugs. China should NOT host the 2008 Games. We will see more of this thuggery every day there. When will the world wake up to the insanity of commie China? This story was well reported in Taiwan, all the newspapers had stories, English and Mandarin news, but the Commie CHina papers, nothing. and even the US papers, nothing, nada. Not even the Seattle Times or the Seattle Post INTELLigencer had news about this? Why? News blackout? Panda pandering to the Chinese on US editors’ part? Wake up, America; wake up, world, we are dealing with Communist thugs in CHina, the people are good, their govt is crapola. Charles Nelson, good good post. Keep telling the world. Good story in Taipei Times newspaper today,

http://www.taipeitimes.com

Jerry, I guess it depends on whether you agree that the communists really deserve to run the country.

If a dictator gathered enough support and took over America, changing its name to “The American Union of People”, and leaving only a few thousand people to flee to, say, Alaska, you might see it another way if those Alaskans wanted to declare themselves as “America”

And I’m pretty sure a few million Taiwanese people would disagree with you, Jerry, that they should just surrender to the communist regime. I don’t think you need to have an extreme right-wing attitude to see what’s going on here.

I hope Chinese Taipei team will displine their players who violated agreed upon rules that is supposed to keep competition pure and politics out.

Take a look at the official WCG site, and the Chinese Taipei team flag representing Taiwan:

http://us.worldcybergames.com/sp/web/us.asp

Still think the bad behavior is only one side?

The communist Chinese are nothing but thugs. Smart thugs though. They beat down there people why we do nothing about it. Yet we will interfere with some other country for the sake of “democracy”. Maybe it has something to do with the billions, possibly trillions, of dollars that American companies have invested in Red China. Don’t forget about the money we owe China that is part of our national debt.

Dear Uninformed Jerry,
Don’t you realize that Taiwan has never been a part of The People’s Republic of China?

Studying History (not communist propaganda) will help you with that

I do hope the Games’ organizers to NOT apologize, nor call it an “oversight” or an “accident”. If China wants to bar it’s citizens from participating in an event, so be it. Perhaps then the people will stand against their government, or at the very least, begin to see how an overbearing and close-minded government affects their personal lives.

Also, it is interestingly enough that Kingston Technology is the the official memory sponsor for the Games’ finals. In their boilerplate, they list Taiwan (not “ROC”), and they list it BEFORE China. Any apology to China could be seen as opposition from their sponsor’s opinion.

I agree that the WCG should have done something about the rude Chinese instigators.

Unsportsmanship actions in some competitions can mean disqualification or banning from future games.

The WCG should ban Chinese participants before the Chinese government can pull it’s citizens out of future competitions.

If you notice the scoreboard on the WCG’s website, Taiwan is listed as “Chinese Taipei” without a flag.

This cowardice of the WCG should be noted.

http://www.worldcybergames.com/6th/2007/GrandFinal/medal_2007.asp

As an American who has been living in Taiwan for the last 4 years and has traveled extensively in the PRC, this story scares me on so many levels. The rabid and irrational reaction of young people in the PRC to the concept of “Taiwan” is getting dangerous… for all of us. The manner in which the PRC govt. indoctrinates youth with anti-Taiwan venom reminds me of a pit bull owner who is training it to fight; the dog itself is not inherently bad, but the owner, for its own goals, encourages rabid aggression. No better way to encourage rabid aggression by telling some die hard gamers that if they allow the R.O.C. flag to be seen they will not be allowed to participate in future competitions. Come on, that’s just twisted and manipulative! The 23 million people that live here in Taiwan, living an independent life from the PRC for over 50 years developing democratic institutions and a free press, are living with the threat that one of these days, those kids in the PRC are going to be unleashed on them. I realize that the geo-political ramifications make it difficult for the US govt to take a stand on this issue, but a gaming organization? Come on, all the kid did was hold up the only symbol of national identity he’s ever known and this organization belittles his pride by caving to the PRC and posting some quasi-Olympic, PRC sanctioned symbol to represent these people on its website. God forbid they should alienate their biggest market for a silly thing called freedom of expression.

Dear Jerry.

I’m sure Mao’s biography means a lot to Chinese people. But people live “outside” China border, Mao’s biography means nothing more then his personal opinion and cannot be used to prove anything.

Got it?

[...] A longer version of the Apple Daily piece is available here. [...]

Have i been living in a dream world? How can a top technological/modern giant like china have a government that acctually have been giving an ultimatum that if a surten flag from a person is being shown on the wcg the chines team will be discualified!?

this is just..

Dear Jerry…

Was it also in Mao’s biography that his rule led to the death of millions of Chinese?

I’m a foreigner living in Taiwan under the threat of about 1000 missiles, number that grows every week. To say that Taiwan needs to be part of China because, historically it was part of it, is nothing more than Imperialistic, Nationalistic and Colonialist speech. In fact, Taiwan was a province of China for a dozen of years, before it’s cession to the Japanese in the Shimonoseki treaty. You might dispute the treaty as unfair, but countries who sue for peace, historically, never got “fair” treaties, did they?

Kristian this is just the tip of the iceberg. Actually, it’s just a fragment of the tip of the iceberg. China has almost everyone fooled that they are ‘opening to the west’. Really when it comes to ‘opening’ all that means is that they are opening their factories to produce cheap lead-coated plastic crap. When it comes to actual culture, mainland China is as bad as it ever was during the Mao days, if not worse. They are raping their own country of all the life it has to give, for the sole purpose of becoming a wealthy nation. As anyone from a first world country knows, it takes more than just WEALTH to make a nation livable.

I am glad this article is opening some eyes, that was the purpose of it.

You titled:
- - -
Taiwanese winner creates controversy
- - -

Gee, I would’ve placed the blame for creating the controversy on those Chinese contestants and media lapdogs who did the hitting and grabbing. Silly me.

http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/

Yes, silly you.

at least those chinese said one thing right - ‘you are not Chinese!’

damn right…He’s TAIWANESE…which is why he had his national flag..duh!

I don’t mind turning this into a political lecture, but I neglected to mention this:
- - -
When the communists took over the mainland, the former leaders fled to Taiwan and created the Republic of China.
- - -

The ROC was formed in 1911 in China. The KMT gov’t of that entity fled to Taiwan at the end of their civil war with the CCP. In 1949, when the PRC was founded, Taiwan was still a Japanese colony, yet both the KMT and CCP began to claim both Taiwan and what everyone else knows as “China” as their own. The opinions of the Taiwanese were left out of this entirely.

yes…by saying that ‘Taiwanese winner creates controversy’ you are suggesting that it is the Taiwanese guys fault, and that the blame lies with him for creating this controversy…

tell me what exactly was it that the Taiwanese guy did that was wrong? How does he possibly deserve to be blamed for this??

Surely you’re not suggesting that it’s the Taiwanese players fault for being Taiwanese?!

This sounds very much like another example reminiscent of the ‘Taiwan provocating China meme’

If you REALLY want to open people’s eyes as you said in one of the comments above, shouldn’t you substitute ‘Taiwanese winner creates’ to ‘Chinese create’ ???

Ditto what Tim Maddog said

Sorry Mr Nelson but that’s a rather big history error there you made…

Jerry wrote: “If you read the BBC’s biography on Mao, it’s obvious that Taiwan is, in fact, and in every concievable way, an illegal nation (and this fact is still understood by the United Nations, by the way).”

An “illegal nation”?? What a concept!

From Wikipedia: “A state is an independent territory with a government, a population, and sovereignty over these.” Taiwan clearly has all of those. If you have some concept of law that does not a recognize Taiwan is a state, then that law is obviously flawed and divorced from reality.

Well, that goes to show - you can put a chimpanzee in a BMW dressed in Armani, but it will still be a chimp (and act like a chimp). The Chinese for all it’s supposedly “future superpower country” status, is noting more than a society of backward and brainwashed automatons. Pity.

@Charles Liu:
Politics out? Wake up!
The use of the “Chinese Taipei” name and emblem is entirely about politics. According to the website you show, Hong Kong competes under its own flag (the HKSAR flag), NOT the Chinese flag! The only reason Taiwan is not allowed to use its flag, is due to political restrictions imposed by China.

Furthermore, nothing in the charter that prohibits the display of the Taiwanese flag. The so call “agreed upon rules” (actually “imposed” on) only stipulate that Taiwan officially competes under the “Chinese Taipei” designation and emblem. That means on all official records of the WCG, Taiwan is to be refered to as “Chinese Taipei”. There is no rule governing the personal actions of competitors or the audience, only the organizer itself. Since the WCG does not instruct players to take flags to the podium when receiving awards, the display of flags is purely a personal action of the players, and is bound by no regulations other than national law. And there is no US law that forbids the display of Taiwan’s flag.

I’m sure nobody would care if the Dutch winner standing next to Liu waved an EU flag instead of the Dutch flag he wore on his back, or even if he waved an American flag, if he so chose.

Incidents like this only serve to enrage the Taiwanese players and the Taiwanese public, and make them want to display their flag even more proudly and prominently.

Also, why is it that Hong Kong is called Hong Kong in all international events, but China insists that Taiwan be called “Taiwan, Provice of China” or “Chinese Taipei”?

Why don’t they insist on calling Hong Kong “Chinese Hong Kong” or “Hong Kong, City of China”?

Because everyone knows Hong Kong is China’s.

China insists on imposing these mind-boggling names on Taiwan, because they know it is not a fact yet, and through these designations, they hope to create the illusion that it is already a fact. If Taiwan were really so indisputably part of China, like Hong Kong, there would be no need to assert it all the time.

The same is true for the “There is only one China, and Taiwan is part of China” mantra. It is endlessly repeated and repeated and repeated, because deep down they know not everyone agrees with them.

Which other country goes around professing that there is only one of itself?

Jay, I’m Taiwanese and I don’t agree with the provocation that started this. So I have to agree with Carl it is in bad taste for Taiwan team to be so undisplined that they agreed to participate under “Chinese Taipei” then pull the flag to create controversey.

“In 1949, when the PRC was founded, Taiwan was still a Japanese colony” this is not true. Taiwan was a Japanese colony until 1945 and the surrender of Japan in WWII. It was “returned” to China in 1945 based on the Cairo Treaty

Charles, I’m Taiwanese too and just the name “Chinese Taipei” makes me nauseous. The team from Taiwan should be able to use a Taiwanese flag because I bet that “Chinese Taipei” flags are wicked hard to find. Want to know why? Because there is NO Chinese Taipei. Only Taiwan. And agreed with some others, shouldn’t the Chinese people be considered as causing the controversy? In any case this shows another difference between Taiwanese and chinese people. While the Taiwanese tend to have more respect, manners, and self control, the chinese tend to be MUCH more rude and in my opinion annoying, as seen in this story.

“James
Posted on October 9th, 2007

As an American who has been living in Taiwan for the last 4 years and has traveled extensively in the PRC, this story scares me on so many levels. The rabid and irrational reaction of young people in the PRC to the concept of “Taiwan” is getting dangerous… for all of us.”

Well stated James. I’m glad there are still some people in this world who can view things objectively.

Politics on a National and International level (sans local/regional) should NOT be the play ground for children and the uneducated, period. And that goes for any country, not just China. History teaches us that organized ethnocentrism, nationalism, and nationalistic pride borders on Fascism and the thin line separating them crosses dangerously with the uneducated and the untamed youths. Suffice to say, what brought the world to war during the first half of the 20th century is being repeated again in rising powers of today. The mindset and mentality of the Chinese youths in particular scares me. The analogy I strike here is that a gun is only as dangerous as the person wielding it. Whether that person is wise to restraint or foolish to ’shoot first and ask later’ is a reality. The scourge of humanity is those with hard-power but not the wisdom to know when to talk and when to shoot.

Charles Liu,

I don’t think a kid holding ANY Flag is a provocation. What is a provocation is threatening and physically attacking the person, something which the Chinese competitors have done before.

No one knows who you really are in real life but when you have no respect for other people’s differing opinions then I have a hard time believing that you are really a product of democratic Taiwan.

Especially giving you away is when you assume that the DEMOCRATIC government or organizational body of Taiwan would discipline a student for the mere act of taking out a flag, any flag, which is okay by the rules of the WCG.

“I hope Chinese Taipei team will displine their players who violated agreed upon rules that is supposed to keep competition pure and politics out.”

Right. Discipline them for expressing their own opinion which everyone else did by waving their own flags. Somehow I think you’re probably Chinese.

Roope Palm
“In 1949, when the PRC was founded, Taiwan was still a Japanese colony” this is not true. Taiwan was a Japanese colony until 1945 and the surrender of Japan in WWII. It was “returned” to China in 1945 based on the Cairo Treaty

That’s the Cairo Declaration, not a Treaty. There is a huge difference.

In any case Taiwan was given to the Republic of China which themselves only came into being in 1911 and never ruled over Taiwan until then. 4 years later the Communists won (they themselves only being formed in the 1930’s) and the Republic of China’s government fled to Taiwan and was still fully functional there, although brutal and harsh.

In the early 1990’s the ROC became democratic and subsequently their party, the Nationalists, soon lost power.

Meanwhile the Communists formed a new country called the People’s Republic of China and have never ruled any part of Taiwan or the 2 dozen other territories that they claim inside India, Vietnam, Russia, Nepal, etc etc.

Hope that clears things up.

“To put this in perspective, imagine if the South had took over Rhode Island after being beaten by the North in the American Civil War. No one in their right mind would declare Rhode Island the “real” America, would they?”

‘The Republic of China’ is a pointless anachronism and has no future.

The Republic of Taiwan? Now, that’s another story. Hopefully, anyway.

To put THAT in perspective, imagine if the South, after losing the Civil War, had fled to Puerto Rico and immediately started robbing and abusing the local population, treating them as second class citizens. They continued to claim they were the ‘real America’, brutally suppressing any advocates of an independent Puerto Rico, and stifling the use of Spanish at every opportunity. Then, after decades of such abuse and attempts to strip away Puerto Rican identity, the Confederates are ousted from power and a genuine democracy is set up which allows for people to claim their identity as Puerto Ricans. All the while, the victorious United States claims that, since Puerto Rico was where their old enemies fled after they were defeated on the mainland, Puerto Rico is now and forever a part of the United States.

That is much closer to the real situation of Taiwan. Taiwanese have a right to their own nationality, if they don’t consider themselves Chinese, none of the PRC’s bluster and threats will change that.

This is ridiculous. Is ROC flag banned by WCG, Seattle City, or United States? No.

This is Seattle, and last time I checked, it is not in China. These mainlanders should keep their barbaric acts at homes and try to realize they can not just do and say anything they want in a different country. Maybe these actions are allowed or even encouraged in China, but not in United States.

This is not a matter of dirty words or anything like that.
This is a matter of defending the integrity of one’s own country. TW is not an independent country. It is not recogized by most of the nations all over the world, including U.S.
Will americans be happy to see a player from california show the flag of california instead of the U.S. nation flag on Olympic games?
No country can afford the independence of a part.

To those green people of tw: Save the crap, if you want your independence, WHY NOT JUST GO AHEAD AND DECLEAR IT, let’s see what happens

“Save the crap, if you want your independence, WHY NOT JUST GO AHEAD AND DECLEAR IT, let’s see what happens”

Yeah, just what we all want to see. World War 3? You think other countries are just going to stand by and let China take aggression towards Taiwan? You are dreaming.

don’t even waste time arguing with these mentally poisoned chinese fellows. they don’t take reason.

they use word “China” so vaguely so that they can blur the lines between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China. The fact of the matter is…Taiwan’s never been a part of People’s Republic of China, and on top of that, the KMT didn’t DECLARE independence, ’cause the ROC’s been since its institution in 1911. Get the facts straight, Jerry, PRC was formed in 1949 - who’s breaking off of whom?

when the government tries to feed you poison, at least have the decency to attempt at rejection.

Ken, I would have no problem with a Californian waving the Californian flag. I suspect most Americans wouldn’t have a problem either. Furthermore, if the US were to become so f’d up that Californian’s all wanted to break off, I’m sure the rest of the US would let them. In fact, I’m willing to bet several states would join their lead. Just because people from your nation think that twisted way does not mean the entire world thinks that way.

In any case, California actually wants to remain in the USA, as do Puerto Rico and Hawaii. We don’t aim missiles at them either, which is much more than can be said about the present situation in Taiwan.

And, if previous comments are accurate, it seems Hong Kong participates under its own flag. How ironic.

“You think other countries are just going to stand by and let China take aggression towards Taiwan? You are dreaming.”

So far as I know, 9/10 countries of the world (U.S. Russian, British, France, Germany,Canada, Aus, even Indian and japan, any country I can think of) does not recognized tw as an independent country, except some corners in african and latino which you pay them.

And also, as well know tw now is not a mememer of UN. So, officially, this will be a CIVIL affair of China.

Then, let’s say, the US and japan maybe people all over the world will back you up.(BTW, since U.S. recently officially claimed against tw’s independence, you might want to think twice about it.) I don’t want to argue about this since there always exist a possibility and people always turns to believe what they would like to believe.

Then, since you believe you are so backed up, and mainland will not be able to stop it, I am asking again, WHY DON’T YOU JUST GO AHEAD DECLEAR IT?

To Hookah,

I don’t want to make this personal but as we see the green people in tw are acturally the ones who get mentally poisoned by the politians, who even sells racialism among the people in tw, just for them to win the election.

The reason why you guys think we are are mentlely poisoned is because you are told or “poisoned” to believe so. I watched a lot of tw’s tv program most of which misinformed about what’s going on in mainland. I suggest you go there once to see it yourself, then you will know who is telling the truth.

In mainland, a lot of people criticize the goverment about a lot of issues. But only when it comes to the independence of tw, there is no second opinion. You can ask around if you got the chance to meet people from mainland.

This is something that can not be simply explained by an unsupported and irresponsible arguement of “mentlely poisoned.”

Acturally I have a lot of tw friends here and we don’t talk about politics since it’s unpleasant and won’t change anything.
We all hope the issue can be solved without blood.

However, if tw want its independence anyway, and you have the guts to defend it yourself, see you on the battlefield:)

Issue of Taiwanee sovereignty aside, why would a team of youngsters feel the need to verbally harrass and PHYSICALLY ATTACK another team of youngsters at a international VIDEO GAME competition? There is NO justification for violence in this situation. None. So someone made a politcal expression which they disagreed with. He didn’t express it in China — he did it in the U.S., where freedom of speech and expression is protected. In other words, whether one considers it “rude” or “poor form,” the Taiwanese boy was ENTITLED to express himself. To use the poor example: if an American competitor at the Olympics displayed a flag of California on the medal stand, I’m sure nobody would harrass to try to beat him up for it. Why? Because whether or not you agree with him, it is his RIGHT to express himself. But I don’t expect the Chinese to understand that. That’s not how their governement operates. Only the products of an authoritarian regime would use physical intimidation at this level. If the Chinese contingent didn’t like what the Taiwanese boy did, they could protest through formal channels.

Yes, I also hope “the issue can be solved without blood.” But that’s up to the Chinese. They are the ones pointing missiles at the Taiwanese.

Roope Palm wrote:
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Taiwan was a Japanese colony until 1945 and the surrender of Japan in WWII. It was “returned” to China in 1945 based on the Cairo Treaty
- - -

As commenter Sean said above, the “Cairo” document was a mere press release. Taiwan was Japanese until 1952 and the San Francisco Peace Treaty. Read more:
http://tinyurl.com/2mt77e

Read the treaty itself here:
http://taiwandocuments.org/sanfrancisco01.htm

More related documents:
http://taiwandocuments.org/doc_all.htm

That’s a Wikipedia article. Be sure to verify things elsewhere.

Paste this in your brain:
- - -
The PRC flag has never flown over Taiwan.
- - -

http://taiwanmatters.blogspot.com/

Chinese insecurity over Taiwan’s status as a State only proves loud and clear they have no real claim to Taiwan. Its time China stops acting like a spoiled 7 year old brat and start acting like a responsible adult for God’s sakes. If Taiwan is part of China like you claim, then shut up and ingore it and act like a mature adult. If its not, then finish the job that Mao failed to finish in 1949 and go get it. Otherwise SHUT THE HELL UP. The rest of the world is sick of your bullshit.

It’s simple, Taiwan hasn’t declared its independence becuase they can’t afford the consequence, wars. Same goes to why China hasn’t been able to send their troops to claim Taiwan, they also can not afford the consequence.

However, all of these don’t change the facts the Taiwan is not ruled by China and is ruled by the people on the island.

To those people of china: Save the crap, if you want to claim Taiwan as part of China and don’t allow Taiwanese seeking their independence, why don’t you just send your troops? See you on battlefield. :)

in battlefield 1942 ? battlefield 2 ? or battlefield 2142 ? :)

“So far as I know, 9/10 countries of the world (U.S. Russian, British, France, Germany,Canada, Aus, even Indian and japan, any country I can think of) does not recognized tw as an independent country, except some corners in african and latino which you pay them.”

….owing to economic threats and bribes from the PRC. This does not mean they would be indifferent to an attack on Taiwan, which would destabilize Asia and jeopardize several billion dollars worth of investments from across the world centered on the island.

“(BTW, since U.S. recently officially claimed against tw’s independence, you might want to think twice about it.)”

The U.S. also recently issued a very explicit warning to China not to attempt an invasion of Taiwan. Believe me, if China invades Taiwan, the odds are Japan and the United States will intervene.

“Then, since you believe you are so backed up, and mainland will not be able to stop it, I am asking again, WHY DON’T YOU JUST GO AHEAD DECLEAR IT?”

This isn’t an argument. This is a threat. Unless you’re Hitler, ‘we’re in the right because we can kill you!’ isn’t very convincing logic.

In this case, the millions of inhabitants of Taiwan have a right to determine FOR THEMSELVES whether they live in China or in an independent state of Taiwan. Threatening them with missiles and invasion is, of anything, just going to make it perfectly clear that joining with a country as belligerent as China is a huge mistake.

for any of you guys want to know how Chinese respond to this event, check these places out:

http://www.sk-gaming.com/scene/13328/
http://www.sk-gaming.com/blog/5641/

In the discussion forum you guys will see some Chinese fellow try as hard as they can to justify what they did in WCG is righteous. But only make a even disgrace out of themself.

Some Chinese there just lost it and verbally abuse everyone there. Very uncivilized people.

Please guys, check it out

Tim Maddog, you didn’t get one thing right:

- Both Ciaro and Potsdam conferences produced legally binding documents signed by the head of states.
(”World War II” by Loyd E. Lee, p 179)

- ROC was not a signatory to SF, therefor it is a private dealing between Japan and
USA. Such private dealing can not affect Taiwan’s sovereign status as part of ROC stated in Ciaro and Potsdam - that Taiwan was land stolen from China by Japan.

- Subsquent to SF Japan signed the Taipei Treaty normalizing relationship with ROC, and officially settled the status of Taiwan.

Charles Liu,

You are a liar, you are NOT a Taiwanese.

Should I call you Bobby Fletcher, Charlie Liu, or Sunday Service? You are the famous auther of “The Myth of Tiananmen Square Massacre” and “The Uber Political Falun Gong”.

http://www.blogger.com/profile/17988368193662201410

The sovereignty of Taiwan is a more complex issue than simply saying that Taiwanese have the right to decide for themselves whether they want to secede and form their own nation or not. The host country has to be legally involved by law of most countries. These laws are not just from the Chinese and related spectrum of nations but to the entire world. For instance Quebec cannot legally formulate itself as a nation through the Canadian constitution even though it wants to go its separate ways. There is some (read many and oft times very loud) opposition to this but the fact remains most nations cannot allow any part of their whole to separate as that would lead to disintegration. Think civil wars which are always fought based on this agenda of splitting. If this were not to happen there are chances that most large nations won’t even exist.
@Carson: despite being a free country one has to realize that there are certain rules and regulations that the WCG itself imposes which details the non-usage of the Taiwanese flag just as the Olympics and every premier event in the world does. This was violated by the Taiwanese gamer.
@ All Americans: understandably no one would have a problem with the Californian flag. It is a part of the US. This is the same reason why China does not have a problem with the Hong Kong flag: it is a part of China. But most blue state Americans would have a problem with the confederate flag being shown albeit the situation being so old, all it would amount to is a few boos. The difference, intent to split the nation would cause reactions. Read again, the laws part from above.
Finally the flag issue is more complex because it is the flag of old china, a regime which was not overthrown by one man but with a populist revolution. More importantly it signifies Taiwanese freedom. Both are notions deep in the mind of the Chinese and would trigger reactions from them, the reason which caused the banning in the first place. I am certain no one would have a problem if a Neo-Nazi German (doubt if any exist so it is just hypothetical) waved his ‘old’ flag on winning in front of the Israeli and Polish delegations and got hurt in the process.
At the end however I must say that the Chinese reacted by going too far. Getting into a fistfight shows lack of restraint. I myself believe they should have been thrown in jail if the punches were thrown. But I do believe the Taiwanese player should also be stripped of his medal.

Kenny, thank you for pumping my blog. The title of my TAM myth blog came from the Columbia School of Journalism TAM retrospective I cited:

http://archives.cjr.org/year/98/5/tiananmen.asp

The Myth of Tiananmen And the Price of a Passive Press
by Jay Mathews

Charles Liu,

You are welcome.

Just try to stop lying, you are NOT a Taiwanese as you claimed earlier.

“The sovereignty of Taiwan is a more complex issue than simply saying that Taiwanese have the right to decide for themselves whether they want to secede and form their own nation or not. The host country has to be legally involved by law of most countries.”

Even if we accept that premise, it is unimportant in regards to Taiwan because Taiwan isn’t a part of China, international lip service to a ‘One China’ policy aside. There is nothing to secede from; in the present day, they are already independent from China in pretty much every way.

“Even if we accept that premise, it is unimportant in regards to Taiwan because Taiwan isn’t a part of China, international lip service to a ‘One China’ policy aside. There is nothing to secede from; in the present day, they are already independent from China in pretty much every way.”

Admitted Taiwan is a special case especially because of a fair amount of years of seperate government but by allowing full legal and political control/seperation, there is the implicit acceptance of a binding timeframe after which any sector of a nation can simply move away from the mainland. Any part of any country then can just declare that 50 years of seperate government can allow it the legal right to seperate from the mainland. Until and unless the mainland and a continuous regime allows for a breakaway I cannot see how it can be justified. And yes they are pretty much independent as far as day to day affairs are concerned but not due to any willingness from the part of the Chinese. Simply put the Chinese feel this very independence should not be allowed.

Also China may be very different politically, but it does share a multitude of similarities foremost being the culture and the language.

Finally China cannot hope to let Taiwan go now especially through a matter of its geopolitical situation and pride and total seperation will be considered a defeat to the solidarity of the Chinese people.

Ever since the Chinese communists took over in ‘49, they’ve been engaging in bully tactics on Taiwan. They bombarded the outer islands of Taiwan in 1958 and only stopped because U.S. President Eisenhower sent reinforcements to bolster the Taiwanese defense. Fast-foward 40 years later, and the communist Chinese are still harboring the same bellicose ‘liberate Taiwan’ mentality, having erected nearly 1,000 missiles aimed directly at Taiwan as proof. Are these the actions of a supposed government that insists on building a ‘harmonious society’? All one needs to do is visit his or her local library and thumb through a history book to witness all the atrocities committed under the bloody totalitarian reign of the Chinese communists (CCP). Their first prize is and has always been Taiwan. And just like the invasion of Tibet, they won’t think twice about killing lives through brutal tactics to take what they claim is inherently theirs, but isn’t.

In exchange for what amounted to broken promises, backstabbing, and routine deception from the communist Chinese, the U.S. sold out Taiwan under the Nixon administration and it’s been downhill ever since. If the West has learned anything over the past 30+ years in dealing with the CCP, it’s the fact that they are masters of manipulation and cannot be trusted. It’s time the U.S. and the West started a new approach in dealing with these thugs from Beijing.

A big reason of why China won’t want Taiwanese independence, is due to what Ali Soomro mentioned with the geopolitical factor.

Once Taiwan goes independent, a major part of China’s ocean freight route will be severed. They cannot afford to pay the tax Taiwan will impose, with them being a power manufacturing country.