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EDITORIAL: Yang was
abandoned in time of need
More often than not, it is China who is singled out as the bully when Taiwan and
its people encounter injustice and ill-treatment on the international stage and
at international events.
It therefore came as no surprise when Democratic Progressive Party Legislator
Gao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) on Tuesday said Chinese pressure was behind taekwondo athlete
Yang Shu-chun’s (楊淑君) decision to drop her appeal with the Court of Arbitration
for Sport over her controversial disqualification from the Asian Games in China
last year.
Some Taiwanese are quick to direct their fury at China, but now consider the
case closed. However, simply blaming China should not mean it is the end of the
story.
Indeed, from clandestine sabotage and blatant assaults to Chinese competitors
verbally attacking Taiwanese competitors and ripping national flags from the
hands of Taiwanese medalists, the list describing China’s alleged harassment of
Taiwanese athletes is long. Considering its long-standing ambition to annex
Taiwan and its attempts to belittle Taiwan at every juncture, China clearly is
the usual suspect, and rightly so.
It is easy to pin the blame on China and to point the finger at international
organizations and members of the international community who are so cowardly
that they yield to China’s bullying and choose to comply with China’s schemes
and trickery in degrading Taiwan. However, it is even more despicable when the
ones allegedly toeing Beijing’s line are those who Taiwan calls its own.
Sadly, this appears to be what lies behind Yang’s surprise announcement last
week.
According to the letter Gao publicized on Tuesday, which he said was written by
Chinese sports official Wei Jizhong (魏紀中) and addressed to former Chinese Taipei
Olympic Committee chairman Chang Feng-shu (張豐緒), Taiwan was advised to “weigh
its options” in the appeal and give consideration to what chance it had of
winning the case.
In all fairness, Wei’s letter, dated Dec. 22, could very well be read as simply
stating China’s view on the issue, including the view that Taiwan may be blaming
the wrong parties — namely, the Olympic Council of Asia and the Guangzhou Asian
Games Organizing Committee.
Some are determined to link the Chinese official’s letter to the reasons behind
Yang’s decision, but China cannot truly threaten or force Yang into making such
a decision unless there is an organization or people who serve as China’s agents
in Taiwan that coerced her into it. Yang would have been more likely to drop the
appeal if the Sports Affairs Council pulled its support for her.
As former president of the Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association, Chen Chien-ping
(陳建平) disclosed that Yang has several times told him in tears that she feared
for the safety of her family if she did not drop the appeal. If this is true, it
is reasonable to believe that she made her decision under duress.
It is one thing to be bullied by others; it is another to be let down by the
ones you consider your own. There is nothing more disheartening and demoralizing
than knowing the people who are supposed to be standing by you are giving up the
fight.
It is little wonder that Yang, after saying that she was withdrawing the appeal
in order to focus on her training for the 2012 London Olympic Games, is
reportedly now considering dropping out of the London Games altogether.
What good is the Sports Affairs Council, and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
government for that matter, when they cannot stick up for their own people? In
the current circumstances, Taiwan needs less cowardly officials and more of
those who have the guts to stand up for their own people and resist China’s
saber rattling.
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