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Highlights
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For decades Olympians from Taiwan - formally the Republic of China - have had to compete under the team name “Chinese Taipei”. The rule is strictly enforced by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
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The rules are often attributed to pressure on the IOC from the Chinese Communist party government, which claims Taiwan as Chinese territory it intends to annex. It uses its hefty influence to shrink as much of Taiwan’s international space as it can, whether that’s at the United Nations or a birdwatching association.
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the name “Chinese Taipei” also dates back to Taiwan’s former authoritarian rulers, who for decades vied with Beijing to officially represent “China” on the international stage. In 1976 they rejected an offer from the IOC to compete as Team “Taiwan” instead of “Republic of China”. Today, “Team Taiwan” would more accurately represent the population, which increasingly identifies as primarily Taiwanese, but it is no longer an option.
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IOC’s stance as “uniquely irrational”, saying that even if it was commonly accepted that Taiwan was a territory, others – like the British territory of Bermuda, or the US’s Puerto Rico – were allowed to compete under their own name.