Chinese Taipei: The Ticket That Lets Taiwan Enter, But Won't Print Its Own Name

30-Second Overview: "Chinese Taipei" is the name Taiwan is forced to use in the Olympics and most international venues. But its origin is far more complex than the four words "forced acceptance." In 1976 Montreal, it was the Taipei government itself that rejected the "Taiwan" offered by the International Olympic Committee (IOC); in the 2018 renaming referendum, it was the athletes themselves who spoke out against it. For forty years, not a single character of this name has changed, but those who are stuck between advancing and retreating on the podium are always the athletes who need it to compete, not the politicians arguing over the name.

On August 25, 1960, the Rome Olympics opened. Delegations from various countries marched into the stadium in order. When it was a team's turn, the chief secretary Lin Hung-tan, walking at the very front, held up a white banner with two English words: UNDER PROTEST, protesting¹.

That year, this team could not be called the "Republic of China" nor "Taiwan." The name given by the IOC was "FORMOSA," Formosa. In the team was a young man named Yang Chuan-kwang. A few days later, he won a silver medal in the decathlon; it was Taiwan's first Olympic medal—hung under a team named "Formosa."

Yang Chuan-kwang, silver medalist in the decathlon at the 1960 Rome Olympics, Taiwan's first Olympic medal. The team name he wore that year was "FORMOSA," Formosa. (UCLA Southern Campus 1960, Public Domain)

This is the only time in Olympic history that a delegation publicly protested during the opening ceremony². More than sixty years later, that white banner has been consigned to history, but the thing the banner wanted to protest has never ended: a team entered the field, but could not use the name it wanted.

A Flag Held in Protest, Walking at the Front

To understand how the four characters "Chinese Taipei" came to be, we must first see clearly one thing: Taiwan's name in the Olympics has never been decided by itself from the beginning.

After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the "China" seat became a争夺 battle between two regimes. The Republic of China government in Taipei and the People's Republic of China in Beijing both claimed to represent the sole China, leaving the IOC caught in the middle. At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the IOC invited both sides simultaneously; Taipei could not accept competing on the same field as the mainland and withdrew from the competition in protest before the games began³. In 1956 Melbourne, Taipei competed under the name "China," and this time Beijing withdrew. Throughout the 1950s and 60s, Taiwan's name jumped repeatedly between "China," "Formosa," and "Taiwan," each time pushed by the tides of international politics, never chosen by itself.

Ironically, the sessions where the name contained the two characters "Taiwan" were precisely when Taiwan had the least autonomy. At the 1968 Mexico City Olympics, Taiwan competed under the name "Taiwan." Chi Cheng won a bronze medal in the women's 80-meter hurdles, becoming Taiwan's first female Olympic medalist⁴. But the code "Taiwan" was a label stuck on by the IOC based on geographical reality, not a choice made by the Taipei government. For the Republic of China government at the time, which insisted on "I am China," being called "Taiwan" was rather a demotion.

The 1972 Munich Olympics were the Republic of China's last time to fully use its national title, national flag, and national anthem for competition⁵. The world changed the following year.

📝 Curator's Note

Today, we are accustomed to viewing "Taiwan" as a proud name to strive for, and "Chinese Taipei" as a humiliating compromise forced upon us. But returning to the scene of the 1960s and 70s, this dichotomy is reversed: the Taipei government most wanted to guard the representation right of "China," and the thing it was most unwilling to accept was precisely "Taiwan," because being called "Taiwan" meant admitting it was only an island, giving up the legal succession of the whole of China. When that bronze medal was hung under the name "Taiwan" in 1968, it was a demotion; when the same "Taiwan" is shouted by the audience in the stands in 2024, it is pride. Half a century, the same word has turned upside down.

The International Wanted to Call It Taiwan; Taipei Refused

1976 in Montreal is the most counter-intuitive page in this entire history.

The host country that year was Canada. Canada had recognized Beijing in 1970. Based on the "One China" policy, the Canadian side refused to allow the Taiwanese delegation to enter the country to compete under the name "Republic of China" (Republic of China). Seeing Taiwan being blocked at the door, the IOC stepped in to coordinate, proposing a compromise: let Taiwan compete under the name "Taiwan," with the flag and anthem remaining the same⁶.

In other words, the one who wanted Taiwan to be called "Taiwan" that year was the IOC; the one who insisted on refusing was Taipei.

This decision was finally made by Chiang Ching-kuo. The Republic of China government viewed "Taiwan" as an arrangement that demeaned national dignity: accepting it would amount to tacitly admitting it was merely a local authority on an island, giving up the representation of the whole of China. Thus, one day before the opening ceremony, the Taiwanese delegation chose to withdraw from the competition, and the entire team returned home⁷. A researcher later evaluated this decision: "it was the KMT that made this decision. It was an own goal, basically." (This was a decision made by the KMT itself; basically, it was an own goal.)⁸

⚠️ Controversial Viewpoint

Simplifying the story of the 1976 Montreal Olympics into "Canada bullied Taiwan" is a common misreading. The truth is more complex and stinging: the International body offered the name "Taiwan," and it was Taipei itself that pushed it away based on its insistence on sovereignty. Pointing this out is not intended to make moral judgments for either side, but rather to restore a causal relationship that is often reversed: the popular saying "Chinese Taipei = a humiliation Taiwan was forced to swallow" is actually the opposite direction. Taiwan lost the opportunity to compete under the name "Taiwan," at least once, because it closed the door itself.

The cost of withdrawal surfaced quickly. In 1979, the IOC formally established the "Two Chinas" Olympic model that continues to this day through a correspondence vote in Nagoya, Japan: Beijing's Olympic Committee would be named the "Olympic Committee of China," using the flag and anthem of the People's Republic of China; Taipei's Olympic Committee must change its name, and its flag and anthem must not be the same as in the past⁹. If Taiwan wanted to return to the Olympics, it had to change its name, change its flag, and change its anthem.

Won the Lawsuit, Then Accepted a New Name

Facing the Nagoya Resolution, Taiwan did not bow immediately but first fought a lawsuit.

At the end of 1979, IOC member Hsü Hsiang and the Chinese Olympic Committee filed a lawsuit in the Lausanne District Court in Switzerland, where the IOC headquarters was located, arguing that the Nagoya Resolution violated the Olympic Charter¹⁰. On March 27, 1980, the court issued an interim judgment, determining that the IOC's actions "seemed to violate the spirit and text of the Charter, particularly Articles 64, 65, and 66," and ruled that "the court fee of 100 Swiss Francs shall be borne by the IOC, and an additional 500 Swiss Francs shall be paid to Mr. Hsü Hsiang (the plaintiff) to compensate for his expenses"¹¹.

Legally, Taiwan won this lawsuit. But what after winning? The fact that the IOC violated the Charter was established, but Taiwan still could not return. The Nagoya Resolution was backed by the shift in the entire international recognition landscape; a single judgment could not change that. Thus, the lawsuit became a bargaining chip for negotiation. On January 26, 1981, Hsü Hsiang and others reached a consensus with the new IOC President Samaranch and withdrew the lawsuit¹².

Two months later, on March 23, 1981, Shen Chia-ming, Secretary-General of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and Samaranch formally signed the Lausanne Agreement (Agreement between the IOC and the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee). The agreement established the name that has been used ever since: CHINESE TAIPEI OLYMPIC COMMITTEE, with the country code TPE¹³. A detail reveals the political calculation at the time: in the Olympic entry order, TPE was placed in Group T, deliberately arranged so as not to be listed together with "China" starting with the code C, avoiding any visual association of "Two Chinas" being listed side by side.

Then-IOC President Juan Antonio Samaranch. On March 23, 1981, he signed the Lausanne Agreement with Shen Chia-ming, Secretary-General of the Chinese Olympic Committee. The name "Chinese Taipei" was thus finalized, used for forty years. (Photo by Leo Medvedev, CC BY-SA 4.0)

📝 Curator's Note

"Won the lawsuit, then accepted a new name" sounds like a contradictory ending, but this is the most misunderstood part of "Chinese Taipei." It is neither a pure surrender nor a pure victory. Taiwan proved that the IOC was at fault in court, but accepted a name that was not its first choice at the negotiation table, because the cost of being excluded from the international sports community for ten whole years was harder to bear than an imperfect name. For athletes, being able to compete is always the first priority.

A new name required new symbols. The design of the flag was drafted by Lin Hsing-hsiung and finalized by Weng Ming-yi. Finally, Chiang Ching-kuo personally selected the "Plum Blossom Five-Ring Flag" from three drafts: the outer ring consists of the blue, white, and red colors of the national flag, the center features the Blue Sky with a White Sun emblem, and the Olympic five rings are embedded below¹⁴. This flag, later commonly known as the "Plum Blossom Flag," replaced the Blue Sky, White Sun, and Wholly Red Earth flag, appearing on every Olympic podium.

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Flag, commonly known as the "Plum Blossom Flag." The outer ring's blue, white, and red are taken from the Republic of China flag, the center is the Blue Sky with a White Sun emblem, and the bottom is the Olympic five rings. Activated after the 1981 Lausanne Agreement, it replaced the national flag on the podium. (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

A Song with the Same Melody, But Different Lyrics

If you have watched Taiwanese athletes win gold on the Olympic podium, you will notice that the national flag does not rise, nor does the national anthem play. But many people do not notice that the "National Anthem" played on the podium, while familiar in melody, has lyrics completely different from what you think.

The Lausanne Agreement stipulated that Taiwan could not use its national anthem. Thus, the Chinese Olympic Committee made a clever arrangement: retaining the melody of the National Flag Anthem but rewriting the lyrics. The new lyrics were written by Zhang Bi-de, then Vice Chairman and Secretary-General, approved by the IOC Executive Committee on June 1, 1983, and first used at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics¹⁵. The lyrics begin like this:

✦ "Olympics, Olympics, regardless of religion, regardless of race. To promote friendship, for world peace, youth from five continents, gather at the Olympics..."

Read it once and you will find that this song contains no "Taiwan," no "Republic of China," and not even "Chinese Taipei"—it speaks of the Olympic spirit, world peace, and youth from five continents. A song born for the sake of competing deliberately refers to no nation. When Lin Yu-ting and Hsu Shu-ching stand on the highest podium, the familiar melody but unfamiliar lyrics of this anthem are played. Most Taiwanese have heard that melody, but may not know its lyrics have already been changed.

Olympics official channel recording of the 2024 Paris Olympics award ceremony segment. When Chinese Taipei athletes step onto the podium, this familiar melody but unfamiliar anthem plays, containing neither "Taiwan" nor the "Republic of China."

After all three symbols—name, flag, and anthem—were replaced, Taiwan finally returned to the Olympic arena in 1984. The cost was that it could no longer hear its true name on the international stage.

One English Name, Two Chinese Translations, A War of Sovereignty Words

The English name "Chinese Taipei" was set, but the trouble had just begun because it has two Chinese translations.

On April 6, 1989, Li Ching-hua, Secretary-General of the Chinese Olympic Committee, and He Zhenliang, Chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee, signed an agreement in Hong Kong (commonly known as the "1989 Consensus"), confirming the official Chinese translation of "Chinese Taipei" as "Chinese Taipei" (Zhonghua Taipei). The agreement's text was very specific: "...Whenever the Taiwan region's sports teams and sports organizations are referred to in Chinese, they shall be referred to as 'Chinese Taipei'."¹⁶

The problem lies in the scope of application of the text. Reading carefully, you will find that this agreement only regulates the documents, manuals, letters, nameplates, and broadcasts printed by the host organization; in other words, it governs the official大会 (congress/organizer), not the media. This loophole later became a continuously leaking crack: Chinese media could legitimately continue to use another Chinese translation, "China Taipei" (Zhongguo Taipei). Starting in April 2017, CCTV China began systematically referring to the Taiwanese team as "China Taipei"¹⁷.

For Taiwan, "Chinese Taipei" and "China Taipei" differ by only one character, but the meaning is worlds apart. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' stance is that "China Taipei" demeans Taiwan and violates the Olympic model; the Chinese Mainland's State Council Taiwan Affairs Office's statement is that both translations are translations of "Chinese Taipei," and there is no issue of demotion. This struggle over one character has no consensus even within Taiwan. After attending the World Health Assembly (WHA) under the name "Chinese Taipei" in 2016, Tsai Ing-wen stated, "There was no demotion in the title, nor was it restricted by a political framework; I completed the mission as expected"¹⁸; KMT Chairman Eric Chu then criticized the DPP for double standards: "When the KMT attended the WHA, calling Chinese Taipei was called losing sovereignty and humiliating oneself; when the DPP attended, it was called professional and pragmatic, with no demotion"¹⁹. Professor Lin Huo-wang from the Department of Philosophy at National Taiwan University also expressed his view, "Chinese Taipei is also OK," "Admitting the political reality makes me feel that President Tsai is a very pragmatic person"²⁰.

📝 Curator's Note

The name has not changed for forty years, but what it points to is constantly being redefined. For Beijing, it is "China Taipei," a local branch; for the Japanese NHK anchor broadcasting the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, it is the脱口而出 (blurted out) "台湾です" (It's Taiwan); for the athletes, it is the cost of entering the field. The same string of letters "Chinese Taipei" emits completely different political frequencies from different mouths. The war truly争夺 (contests) is the right to interpret the name.

The influence of the "Chinese Taipei" model extends far beyond the Olympics. At the 1990 Beijing Asian Games, Taiwan returned under Chinese Taipei. In November 1991, Taiwan joined the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) along with China and Hong Kong as a "Chinese Taipei" "economy"; this was the first intergovernmental international organization Taiwan joined since withdrawing from the United Nations in 1971²¹. From 2009 to 2016, Taiwan attended the World Health Assembly as an observer under the name "Chinese Taipei" for eight consecutive years, until it was no longer invited starting in 2017²². The "Olympic Model" thus spilled over from a sports arrangement into the universal template for Taiwan's participation in almost all international organizations where China is present.

The Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Emblem, an identification symbol ratified after the 1981 Lausanne Agreement, same as the flag. Compared to the flag flying on the podium, the emblem appears more often on athletes' uniforms and official documents—also carried along with the "Olympic Model" into venues far beyond sports, such as APEC and the WHA. (Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain)

The People Who Hurt the Most in the Name Have No Voting Stage

In 2018, a referendum brought the issue of "name" to the hands of all Taiwanese for the first time.

The initiator was Chi Cheng—and the name Chi Cheng itself contains all the contradictions of the entire history of "Chinese Taipei." She won Taiwan's first women's Olympic medal under the name "Taiwan" in 1968; in 1981, she was one of the key figures who helped establish the Chinese Taipei Olympic model, allowing Taiwan to return to the Olympics²³; between 1981 and 1990, she served as a Legislative Yuan member recruited by the KMT. Then, in 2018, the former establishment figurehead led the initiation of the "Tokyo Olympics Renaming Referendum," arguing that Taiwan should compete under the name "Taiwan." One person, over forty years, went from the creator of the name to the opponent of the name.

FTV's "Taiwan Story" special on Chi Cheng, telling the entire arc: the "Flying Antelope" of 1968 Mexico, the key figure who brought Taiwan back to the Olympics in 1981, and the initiator of the 2018 renaming referendum. One person, containing all the contradictions of the name "Chinese Taipei."

The main text of Referendum Case No. 13 was written clearly: "Do you agree to apply to participate in all international sports events and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics under the full name 'Taiwan' (Taiwan)?"²⁴

The referendum sparked a frontal collision between two forces. On one side were those supporting renaming, believing it was a matter of dignity; on the other side, those who publicly spoke out against it were the most direct parties in this name—the athletes themselves. Badminton player Zhou Tian-cheng said: "Athletes compete with their lives, and what we want is just a stage, not a renaming based on ideology."²⁵ Sprinter Yang Chun-han called out to voters: "Every vote you cast will concern our future..."²⁶ Weightlifting gold medalist Hsu Shu-ching said more directly: "Cast your votes against."²⁷

The athletes' fear stemmed from the IOC's attitude. In 2018, the IOC sent three letters to the Chinese Olympic Committee, explicitly stating that it would not approve the renaming application, that excessive external pressure would be viewed as political interference, and that it might even revoke recognition of the Chinese Olympic Committee²⁸. For athletes whose careers depend on the right to compete, this was a threat to their professional lives.

But there is a key point that is commonly confused. Carefully distinguishing the IOC's warnings, you will find it threatened that "the name is actually changed," not that "someone votes to request an application." The Olympic Charter stipulates that suspension is triggered only when a government or institution "hinders the operation of the National Olympic Committee"; a referendum passing only requires the government to submit an application, and the Chinese Olympic Committee, as a non-governmental organization, could theoretically choose not to execute it—suspension would not be automatically triggered²⁹. Fact-checkers such as Plain Law also pointed out that "Renaming Referendum = Automatic Ban" exaggerates the fear.

⚠️ Controversial Viewpoint

So were the athletes' concerns unfounded? Not entirely. The political dynamics after the referendum passed were full of uncertainty, and the IOC's three letters themselves created real pressure—the pressure did not need to actually turn into suspension to make an athlete sleepless on the eve of voting. This is the cruelest part of "Chinese Taipei": it pushed a political dilemma that should have been borne by the whole society onto the group with the least voice, but who had to bear the most direct consequences. The people who hurt the most in the name were precisely those with the least space to strive for renaming.

On November 24, 2018, the referendum results were revealed. Yes votes: 4,763,086 (45.20%), No votes: 5,774,556 (54.80%), Turnout: 55.89%³⁰. The renaming case was rejected by a margin of about one million votes. Hsu Shu-ching said after the referendum: "The referendum did not pass, which is more reassuring for athletes; they do not need to bear this risk."³¹

TTV News reported the most amplified controversy before the referendum: whether the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee would be expelled by the IOC if the renaming passed. The authenticity of this question itself is the core of the disagreement between athletes and the renaming camp.

Forty Years Later, The Name Remains, The War Continues

The referendum ended, but the tug-of-war over the "name" on each athlete has never stopped.

Before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, short track speed skater Huang Yu-ting was photographed practicing in a Chinese team uniform embroidered with the word "China." Facing the controversy, she responded: "In the sports world, we have no distinction of nationality" (original text), and said that competing was "like fighting on home turf"³². The Ministry of Sport deemed this act inappropriate, suspended her subsidies for two years, and promised to amend the law³³. Facing the same "name," some desperately want to shout out "Taiwan," while others feel nationality should not be part of sports. This crack runs through the athlete community itself.

CTS News 2022 report: Huang Yu-ting practicing in a Chinese team uniform embroidered with "China" caused a huge uproar. She said "In the sports world, we have no distinction of nationality," and the Ministry of Sport's punishment drew another boundary.

And sometimes, what is snatched away is something more concrete. At the opening of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, when the on-site announcer pronounced "Chinese Taipei," the Japanese NHK broadcast anchor directly shouted "台湾です" (It's Taiwan)³⁴—these four characters were called by many Taiwanese netizens "the most touching moment of the night." But at the 2024 Paris Olympics, at the men's doubles badminton gold medal match, a support banner reading "Taiwan" on the stands was snatched and torn up on the spot by on-site staff and spectators suspected to be Chinese³⁵. Li Yang and Wang Chi-lin won the gold medal; the white Plum Blossom flag rose on the podium, and the anthem without the word "Taiwan" played. The name was still the same as forty years ago.

After the Paris Olympics, Taiwanese media and the public have become more accustomed to directly shouting "Team Taiwan" rather than the past "Team China," and even sports journalists more often use words like "Taiwan Heroes"³⁶. The emotional balance of society towards the name is shifting, but the flag on the Olympic podium and the anthem have not moved with it.

It is in this tug-of-war that Chi Cheng stood out again. In July 2021, this person who personally brought Taiwan back to the Olympics in 1981 announced she would push for another renaming referendum, targeting the 2024 Paris Olympics. This time, former President Ma Ying-jeou publicly opposed it, saying renaming "would only harm Taiwan"³⁷.

From the "UNDER PROTEST" white banner in Rome in 1960 to the torn-up "Taiwan" banner in Paris in 2024, more than sixty years have passed. In these sixty years, those who want to call it "Taiwan" and those who want to keep "Chinese" have constantly switched sides—the IOC once wanted to give Taiwan the name "Taiwan," and Taipei itself pushed it away; athletes once used votes to reject the name "Taiwan," yet longed for someone to shout "Taiwan" for them on the field; Chi Cheng personally created "Chinese Taipei," yet spent the rest of her life trying to overturn it. No one has stood still.

And that ticket still only lets Taiwan enter, and still cannot print its own name. The next time you see the Plum Blossom flag rise on the podium and hear that anthem without the word "Taiwan," you will know that this battle has been fought for forty years and has not yet determined a winner. And those who are stuck between advancing and retreating are always the person standing on the stage.

Further Reading

• Issues with Taiwan's Representation in International Standards — From ISO 3166 to open-source software, how the name "Taiwan" is written and disputed in global digital infrastructure, originating from the same source but on a different battlefield as Olympic naming
• Taiwan Unification-Independence Spectrum — Why Taiwanese people's emotions towards the two names "Chinese" and "Taiwan" are so divided, a complete explanation of the underlying identity spectrum
• Taiwan's Diplomatic Allies and International Diplomacy — Beyond the spillover of the "Olympic Model," the same name dilemma Taiwan faces in formal diplomatic arenas
• Chi Cheng — The complete arc from the 1968 Mexico bronze medalist "Flying Antelope," to the 1981 establishment figurehead, to the 2018 renaming initiator
• Yang Chuan-kwang — The Asian Iron Man who won Taiwan's first Olympic medal under the name "Formosa" at the 1960 Rome Olympics

Image Sources

• Hero / 1960 Rome "UNDER PROTEST": Olympische Spelen te Rome — Formosa liep onder protest, Photo by Harry Pot / Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Nationaal Archief), CC0 1.0.
• Yang Chuan-kwang: C. K. Yang — UCLA Southern Campus 1960, Public Domain (PD-US, Copyright not renewed).
• Samaranch: Juan Antonio Samaranch, Photo by Leo Medvedev, CC BY-SA 4.0.
• Flag (Plum Blossom Flag): Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Flag, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain. Outer ring blue, white, red taken from the Republic of China flag, center Blue Sky with a White Sun emblem, bottom Olympic five rings, activated after the 1981 Lausanne Agreement.
• Emblem: Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Emblem, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain (Author Denelson83 released).

Video Sources

All four videos are embedded from official channels (documentary news / events / documentaries, non-UGC remakes):

• Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee Anthem · 2024 Paris Award Ceremony: Olympics Official Channel (IOC official)
• Chi Cheng Special: FTV "Taiwan Story" (FTV official)
• Tokyo Olympics Renaming Referendum Controversy: TTV News (TTV official)
• Huang Yu-ting Chinese Team Uniform Controversy: CTS News (CTS official)

References