Taiwan will not participate in Beijing Olympic 2022 opening ceremonies due to COVID

Taiwan’s delegation will not participate in the 2022 Winter Olympic Games opening ceremony in Beijing due to COVID-19 and disrupted flight schedules, the Taiwanese Sports Administration on Friday said in a statement obtained by Sputnik. "Taiwan's 15-member athletic delegation, which includes athletes and coaches, will not take part in the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games due to the tense epidemiological situation and other factors,” Taipei’s ministry announced. 

Taiwan’s Sports Administration made clear Taiwan's Olympic contingent of 15 athletes will not participate in the games scheduled in China between  February 4 to 20. Beijing Olympics games will have four Taiwanese athletes participate this year, namely Huang Yu-ting in the 500m, 1,000m, and 1,500m speed skating; Lin Sin-Rong in the luge women's single; and Ho Ping-jui in the men's and Lee Wen-yi in the women's slalom.

The reason Taiwan listed for the last moment withdrawal was “Beijing-bounds flight disruption due to the novel coronavirus. China though is witnessing the players from the other countries, and 32 world leaders and heads of international organizations arrive. Taiwan’s decision appears to be motivated by the United States’ diplomatic boycott of Olympic Games over PRC’s human rights abuses in Xinjiang against Uyghurs. 

Lawmakers pushed to 'do more' to boycott Beijing Olympics

Activists and lawmakers gathered this week asking the Taiwanese lawmakers to push the international community to do more in boycotting the Beijing Winter Olympics scheduled for February 2022. Demanding independence from China, scores of activists and China dissidents gathered outside the Taiwanese parliament and shouted anti-Beijing slogans and pressed for their demands to be fulfilled, flashing banners that asked for a boycott of Winters games, ANI reported. Protesters asked the Chinese Taipei Olympics Committee (CTOC) to ensure that the freedom of speech of Taiwanese athletes is safeguarded at the Olympics.

NPP legislator Chen Jiau-Hua told a conference that China is “unqualified” to host the 2022 Olympic Games and that the international community and Taiwan must step up pressure against the Xi Jinping government and stop the sporting event from being held. Jiau-Hua condemned PRC’s human rights abuses against ethnic minority groups, such as Uyghurs, and reminded that China violated rules written in the Olympic Creed, Taiwan News reported.