Tokyo choir competition removes Taiwan flag after Chinese complaint

Tokyo, July 27 (CNA) A choir competition in Tokyo removed Taiwan's flag on Saturday and changed the name under which Taiwanese teams competed after a Chinese complaint, and then removed the flags of all competing nations on Sunday to address protests over its moves.

The incident transpired on the second day of the three-day Tokyo International Choir Competition on Saturday, held in the Japanese capital's Dai-ichi Seimei Hall.

In a Facebook post by the conductor of Taiwan's Nibun Chorus, organizers suddenly announced Saturday during a practice that after "receiving a complaint," Taiwan's official flag had to be taken down and that teams from Taiwan would be announced as competing out of "Chinese Taipei."

The coach of Nibun Chorus said the announcement "came as a shock" to him.

Following the announcement, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan said it approached the competition's organizers late Saturday to address the incident.

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Yi-ying (邱議瑩), who accompanied Taiwan's choirs, as well as Chairman Keiji Furuya of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council -- who is also a member of the Japanese House of Representatives -- spoke with the competition's organizers against the changes as well.

In the end, however, organizers still decided to announce the three Taiwanese choirs that competed on Sunday as coming from "Chinese Taipei," but they decided to remove the flags of all competing countries.

On the name change, teams from Taiwan had been using the name "Taiwan" since the competition's inception in 2018, but had it changed to using "Chinese Taipei" on Sunday.

The name Chinese Taipei has been commonly used to refer to Taiwan in international sports events, especially at the Olympics and in sports in the Olympic family since 1981.

Speaking with CNA, Chiu said the complaint about Taiwan's flag and name came from China, and she criticized Beijing for tarnishing the purity of a simple choir competition.

Earlier on Sunday, Chou Shyue-yow (周學佑), the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office's deputy representative, and 16 other officials from the office approached organizers again to address the decision and deter any further actions by China.

After talking with organizers, the office said that while the host of the event still announced the teams as coming from Chinese Taipei, the name Taiwan was used on multiple occasions as the host stressed that "the competition has nothing to do with politics."

"Country names or titles used during introductions also do not reflect any political implications," the host said.

Taiwan's top representative to Japan Lee I-yang (李逸洋) said Taiwan had been able to compete as "Taiwan" the previous six times the event was held, and criticized China's interference this year while finding it regrettable that the organizers caved in to China's requests.

If any country in the world understands that Taiwan is different from China, it should be Japan, and given Japan's greater friendship with Taiwan than China, Beijing's aggressive tactics will only further antagonize Japan and expose China's own shortcomings, Lee believed.