Chinese Taipei — you may have heard this name mentioned a few times in reference to the island nation of Taiwan. Officially known as the Republic of China, the country is recognized as “Chinese Taipei” by several international organizations and events.
So, what is Chinese Taipei? The name “Chinese Taipei” is the name designated for Taiwan in the Nagoya Resolution. This name was chosen as a compromise between the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China (who officially don’t recognize each other’s existence) as a way to identify Taiwan during the activities hosted by the International Olympic Committee.
Taiwan and mainland China have a tense history. Even today, the two countries refuse to recognize each other’s legitimacy as part of the One China policy. In this article, we will explore all of this and also share more insights into why exactly the name “Chinese Taipei” was chosen.
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What is the origin of the term “Chinese Taipei”?
To understand the origin of the term “Chinese Taipei,” you must first understand Taiwan’s political status and background. The whole situation is more complicated than you may think.
During the Chinese civil war that resulted in the formation of the People’s Republic of China in mainland China, the opposing Government force was the Republic of China. After the victory of Mao Zedong‘s communist militia, the ROC was ousted to the island of Taiwan.
Since then, the communist government of China and the ROC have challenged each other’s legitimacy as part of the “One China” policy. Both governments hold that they hold the right to both mainland China and the island of Taiwan. The People’s Republic of China, for instance, still holds that Taiwan is a renegade state, only temporarily separated from mainland China due to the “ongoing” civil war.
Today, mainland China has the third-largest military in the world. But thanks to support from the United States, Taiwan has been able to hold its own against its much powerful opponent. This has resulted in both the PRC and the ROC being held in a stalemate. But this hasn’t stopped both governments from challenging each other’s legitimacy.
Despite this, the People’s Republic of China, thanks to its massive participation in the global economy and its military might has been able to legitimize itself in the international platform. This has consequently made things difficult for the much smaller Taiwan.
While the stalemate between the two countries has allowed both countries to participate globally, their history makes China nervous about how Taiwan is represented in the international community.
The Nomenclature
One of the most important issues regarding this representation has been about how Taiwan is named at the international level.
It was in the 1970s that the international community first started recognizing the Chinese authority in Beijing over that in Taipei, the capital city of Taiwan. But both countries continued to participate in international events like the Olympics.
Since then, the two countries have come to an agreement. In the Nagoya Resolution, it was stated that Taiwan would be identified and listed as “Chinese Taipei” in the activities hosted by the International Olympic Committee. And since then, the term Chinese Taipei has been used to identify Taiwan in several other international organizations, such as the World Trade Organization.
What exactly does the term “Chinese Taipei” mean?
The term “Chinese Taipei” was chosen so that it would be deliberately vague. Both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China have agreed upon this term since both countries believe that the term legitimizes them over the other. Such is the power of words.
To China, the term “Chinese Taipei” implies their authority over the island nation, as if it were just another province in the country. To Taiwan, the term implies their (the ROC’s) authority and hold over “Chinese” culture. The use of the capital city “Taipei” over the country’s name Taiwan was used as a compromise between the two nations.
It does sound a bit out of the ordinary, yes. But what matters more is that this compromise has helped maintain relative peace between the two opposing powers.
Within its own borders, China still refers to Taiwan as “China’s Taiwan.” It also uses similar authoritative terms to refer to other areas in the country such as Hong Kong, which it refers to as “China’s Hong Kong.”
Use of the term “Chinese Taipei”
So how frequently is the term “Chinese Taipei” used today?
The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank now famously refer to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei.” Other organizations that use the term “Chinese Taipei” include the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
But what started as a compromise in nomenclature for the Olympics event, has now spread across other domains, even those that have nothing to do with politics.
The People’s Republic of China has even succeeded in forcing many civic organizations to refer to Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei.”
The Lions Club used to famously refer to Taiwan as Chinese Taipei, but it later changed this to “Taiwan MD 300.” Since 1998, the Miss World Organization has also been referring to Miss Taiwan as Miss Chinese Taipei in its events. The same is true for the second and third largest International beauty pageants, Miss Universe & Miss Earth.
The Olympics was the first event to adopt the name Chinese Taipei to refer to Taiwan. But today, the name is also used in Major League Baseball and the Little League World Series competition to refer to Taiwan. The “Chinese Taipei” name and Olympic flag are also used in several other sports, including Tennis. This is true outside of Olympic events, such as in the famous Davis Cup and Hopman Cup.
International media outlets, however, have long referred to the country as simply “Taiwan.” The term “Chinese Taipei” is seen as ambiguous in the international community as many are led to believe that Taipei is the country.
During the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, there was a movement inside Taiwan that demanded media outlets in the country use the term Taiwan to refer to the country instead of Chinese Taipei. The country’s most popular TV station, Taiwan TV (TTV), obliged and has been doing this ever since. But the other media outlets in the country use the term Zhonghua and Zhongguo to represent participants of the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China, respectively.
While a vast majority of Taiwanese people today identify as Taiwanese instead of Chinese, the issue with the official nomenclature remains just as prominent.
Conclusion
Mainland China and Taiwan have a long and tense history.
For over 70 years now, the two countries have refused to accept each other’s existence as part of the “One China” policy. The democratic government of the ROC refuses to accept the legitimacy of the One Party communist government of China, and the same is true for the other.
Since the two countries have conflicted with each other for so long, they were bound to cross paths in the international stage at some point. This happened during the Olympics and also on other platforms such as the World Trade Organization. As a compromise, the two countries agreed that Taiwan would be referred to as “Chinese Taipei” in these International platforms.
The name was chosen to be deliberately ambiguous. Each of the two nations feels that the name legitimizes their respective authority over the other. And it is with this vague balance of power that the two nations have been able to coexist.
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1 comment
Yes,look for the GDP