20101119 Fixing the Asian Games

Fixing the Asian Games

To what lows would China stoop to protect its already tarnished image and save face? Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of knee-jerk reactions out of China when it comes to projecting its prowess — the Tiananmen Square Massacre, the mass roundup of Falun Gong practitioners, the “Anti-Secession” Law and shrill reactions to US arms sales to Taiwan — but Wednesday’s twist of fate in the women’s taekwondo event at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, really takes the cake.

Officials disqualified Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) for wearing electronic socks that had passed inspections prior to the event, sending her packing just as she was beating her Vietnamese opponent Vu Thi Hau 9-0.

What prompted this? On the surface, it would seem that Chinese authorities didn’t want to see a Taiwanese athlete do well in a tournament they were organizing.

The World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) had certified the brand of electronic socks that led to Yang’s disqualification. She said she had brought two pairs of WTF-sanctioned socks, but officials rejected one pair, so she was allowed to wear the other pair in the event. The chief judge had examined her socks before the match began, so it seems unreasonable that she was disqualified in the first round of her bout with Vu.

Taiwanese anchorwoman Chen Yi-an (陳怡安), an Olympic taekwondo gold medalist, likely hit on the truth when she angrily denounced the decision, saying she suspected a plot to discredit Yang because she was likely to meet Chinese competitor Wu Jingyu (吳靜鈺) — who beat Yang at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — if she won against Vu.

Now it seems judges at the Asian Games eliminated the risk that the “pride of China” would be beaten by the “pride of Taiwan.”

The controversy over this decision is not going to die down soon, even though the five-member WTF technical committee confirmed the disqualification and the Asian Games arbitration committee rejected a formal protest from the Taiwanese delegation.

In a rare show of unity, Taiwanese lawmakers across party lines have condemned this decision as unfair. Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Huang Chih-hsiung (黃志雄), a former taekwondo athlete, called the ruling “inconceivable and ridiculous,” while Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) urged the Sports Affairs Council to do everything it could to overturn the decision, “even if it means we have to boycott the Games.”

Chinese authorities have demonstrated time and again their lack of respect for Taiwan, which they consider a renegade “province” that should bow to their every whim.

Most of the time, this disrespect is manifested in greater forms — stealing Taiwan’s allies, exerting economic or military pressure and rejecting Taiwan’s UN membership bids.

However, sometimes its attitude toward Taiwan is put on display in much smaller, yet equally unsubtle ways — this time, seemingly twisting the rules to have a legitimate athlete disqualified from the Asian Games.