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Mainland plea to end Taiwan's name issue

(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-07-24 06:50

The mainland Wednesday called on both sides of the Taiwan Straits to resolve misunderstandings regarding the name of the island's Olympic team.

Accusations from certain Taiwan media that mainland media violate relevant pacts by changing the Chinese-language name of the island's team from "Zhonghua Taipei" to "Zhongguo Taipei" are not conducive to trust-building, a spokesman for the Taiwan affairs office under the State Council, said.

In 1979, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) passed a resolution in Nagoya, Japan, restoring the rights of the Chinese Olympic Committee within the IOC, meanwhile renaming the Taipei-based Olympic Committee "Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee", the spokesman said.

Since then, the mainland has translated "Chinese Taipei" to "Zhongguo Taipei", he said.

In 1981, the Taiwan Olympic organization confirmed its acceptance of the Nagoya resolution, but translated "Chinese Taipei" to "Zhonghua Taipei".

"The different versions of translation across the Straits were historically made," he said.

In 1989, the two Olympic committees signed a pact in Hong Kong, clearly defining the use of "Zhonghua Taipei", he said.

When Taiwan sports teams and organizations compete or attend conferences on the mainland, the organizer must refer to them in print and on public address systems as "Zhonghua Taipei", according to the pact.

The mainland had observed the pact and used "Zhonghua Taipei" in stipulated areas since, but "Zhongguo Taipei" is still occasionally used owing to past practice, he said.

Accusations of mainland media violation confused the scope of use of "Zhonghua Taipei" as defined in the Hong Kong pact, he added.

Cross-Straits relations are currently maintaining a hard- won momentum of improvement and development that are to be cherished, he said.

Xinhua