This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia, and it is now licensed for reprint.
As the democratic Taiwan basketball team defeated China in the men’s double to win Olympic silver in Paris, Chinese state Television pulled the plug on a live broadcast over the weekend.
Taiwan, which is known as Chinese Taipei, won its first silver medal of the Beijing Olympics on Sunday to take home the title of first-seeded countrymen Liang Weikeng and Wang Chang, relegating them to the floor and the shouts and yells of insane Chinese enthusiasts.
The Chinese piece obviously had a win in the suit, which was broadcast life in total throughout Taiwan. China’s state broadcaster CCTV cut the match’s live broadcast. The audience’s events at the end and the medal ceremony were both canceled.
The Chinese victory played out amid , continuing military tensions , in the Taiwan Strait over China’s geographical claim on the island, whose 23 million people , have no wish , to send to Chinese Communist Party rule, and which has not formed part of the surrounding People’s Republic of China.
As opposed to the flower-like emblem of the Chinese Taipei team, which Beijing considers acceptable, Taiwanese supporters in Paris who displayed any representation of the island’s statehood were targeted by the Olympics organizers.
The state broadcaster’s CCTV16 Olympics channel footage cut off abruptly after the match ended, and only started midway, as the Chinese pair started to make some headway.
As Taiwanese fans yelled” Taiwan,” it appears that the live footage was directed to keep the audience shots to a minimum. and” Taiwan No. 1″!
Not the national anthem
The broadcaster only allowed 40 minutes of the 76-minute contest to air, with the rest being covered in men’s gymnastics after the contest was over.
Instead of the Republic of China’s national anthem, which was adopted by the Taiwanese team during the 2011 Chinese Revolution, which still formally controls the islands of Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu, the Taiwanese team took the podium.
Taiwanese fans could be heard singing along, which was clearly audible on the uncensored live footage of the event, despite the Chinese Taipei team’s Olympic flag raising rather than the Republic of China flag.
Taiwanese fans told RFA Cantonese that they had had the flag confiscated when they showed up at competition venues, as it is n’t permitted at Olympic events, at China’s insistence.
An Olympic supporter from Taiwan who used the moniker Anny admitted on Sunday that” I have had the national flag taken from me on my way inside before.” It was removed and placed in a small dark room.
She claimed that an inspection of the placard she was carrying had also been done.
She said they needed to make sure it was pertinent to Taiwan before returning it to me.
‘ Little pinks’ see red
Meanwhile, only Liang and Wang’s names and nationality were disclosed in Hong Kong media, ignoring the fact that they both won silver medals.
Little Pink nationalists, who accused the umpire of bias against China in three decisions regarding whether a shot fell inside or outside the permitted lines, also criticised the game on Chinese social media.
” Hey referee, are you a supporter of independence for Taiwan”? quashed one, while another user made a comment on a post by the state broadcaster CCTV that claimed China had won both gold and silver in a remark about Beijing’s claim that the island is an “inalienable part of China’s territory.”
Some “little pinks” left comments on posts by Taiwanese media organizations, with one comment reading:” It does n’t matter who wins: they’re all from China”.
” When will unification happen”? asked another. ” I do n’t want to see a team from Taiwan at the next Olympics”.
According to Taiwanese soccer commentator Max Shih, this is not the first time CCTV has suspended a men’s badminton doubles match between Taiwan and Taiwan, citing Lin and Yang’s defeat of Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen at the Tokyo Olympics.
“CCTV ca n’t win, whether they decide to broadcast it or not”, Shih told RFA Mandarin on Monday. It’s very awkward for them if they do, and China suffers from Taiwanese fans ‘ shots.
‘ Narrow-minded and intolerant’
” China claims to be a major power, but in fact it’s very narrow-minded and intolerant”, political commentator Chen Pokong said. ” That’s why CCTV stops broadcasting when it loses, and broadcasts only when China wins”.
” China claims that politics has no place in the Olympics, but they themselves bring politics to the Olympics”, he said.
He claimed that Beijing is under enormous pressure to provide the state broadcaster with footage.
“]The Chinese athletes ] were told that they could only accept interviews from CCTV”, Chen said. ” They are under a lot of pressure because CCTV mobilized 2, 000 people to broadcast and report on these Olympics.”
Chen Li-fu, president of the Taiwan Professors Association, said China appears to lack confidence in its own international image.
“]This leadership ] lacks confidence, and fears that they will lose support among the Chinese people if China loses”, Chen said, adding that there was also huge demand to see the match live in China.
” They know this very well, but if they are going to lose, they’d be better off not broadcasting it”, he said. When people talk about this, Xi Jinping will become a laughingstock.
