The Japan Times has published a new article calling on all Olympic delegations to support Taiwan by competing without their national flags at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Please help spread the idea. If many Olympians take action, it could lead to change at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics.

Here is the full text:

Olympic delegations should side with Taiwan and leave their national flags at home

Taiwanese athletes are banned from carrying their national flag at the Olympics. They must compete as “Chinese Taipei,” a made-up name that misrepresents their national identity.

Many countries have announced a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Diplomats officially represent their countries, but so do national flags. A flag boycott would therefore be in line with a diplomatic boycott.

However, a more compelling reason for leaving national flags out of the Olympics is fairness.

All athletes deserve to compete on a level playing field and to be treated with dignity. Taiwan’s Olympic delegation is currently afforded neither.

Although the Olympic Charter forbids discrimination, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) bans the Taiwanese from expressing their national identity, even after a hard-earned victory. They cannot use their country’s real name or national flag. They instead must compete as “Chinese Taipei,” a phrase which to many Taiwanese is an insult given that they do not identify as Chinese or live in Taipei. No other Olympic team is subjected to this sort of prejudicial treatment. It continues only because China insists on it, and the IOC lacks the backbone to say, “No, this is wrong.”

Last September, Taiwanese athletes competed at the AIDA world diving championship using their real flag. China did not like it. In mid-competition, Taiwan’s flag was suddenly deleted from the leaderboard in order to placate the Chinese. The incident was disrespectful, unfair and distracting to the Taiwanese divers, who were trying to focus on competing.

AIDA later said that it had no intention to restore Taiwan’s flag. It gave the Taiwanese divers two options: continue to compete with no flag or compete with the “Chinese Taipei” flag used in the Olympics. The Taiwanese divers chose to compete with no flag, apparently considering this option to be less demeaning than the Chinese Taipei flag.

Some Japanese divers had the decency to call out the injustice. They demanded that their flag also be removed so that they could “share the pain with Taiwan.” They stated that, “We cannot overlook the situation that only Taiwan is disadvantaged,” they reportedly told media outlets. “We will not allow politics to interfere in our sport.” Their act of moral courage inspired athletes from nine other countries to join them in demanding that their countries’ flags also be removed. The leaderboard was left almost completely devoid of flags.

The optics were so embarrassing that AIDA was forced to acknowledge its mistake and issue a public apology to Taiwan.

On social media, one Taiwanese commented, “It’s always been an apology to China. This is the first time I’ve seen someone apologize to Taiwan.” The comment was punctuated with a crying emoji.

On February 4th Friday, Taiwan is once again going to be subjected to Chinese abuse, this time at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics. Rather than put a stop to it, the IOC appears to be helping China.

The Taiwanese government announced on Jan. 28th that the country’s team would not be attending either the opening and closing ceremonies of the Winter Games, citing flight delays and COVID-19-related health concerns. However, the main reason was almost certainly to avoid being taunted by China in front of the world.

According to Reuters, a Taiwanese official expressed concern that China would incorrectly refer to Taiwan as “China Taipei” and place it in line next to Hong Kong. China’s purpose in doing these things appears to be an attempt to emphasize the idea that Taiwan is its territory so that it can justify a future takeover, possibly by force.

Within days of the Taiwanese announcing they were skipping the opening and closing ceremonies, Taiwan’s Olympic Committee revealed that it had been repeatedly contacted by the IOC and was being pressured to rescind its decision. The IOC had accused the Taiwanese of violating the Olympic Charter even though nothing in the charter says that athletes must attend the opening and closing ceremonies.

However, the charter does forbid discrimination and political propaganda at the Olympics, so if anyone is violating the charter, it is the IOC and China, due to how they treat the Taiwanese team.

Some Olympic athletes have admitted to feeling conflicted about attending the Beijing Winter Games due to China’s treatment of the Uyghurs, Tibetans, Hongkongers, tennis star Peng Shuai, etc. In the words of skier Mikaela Shiffren, she felt like she was being forced to choose between her morals and her job.

One way that athletes like Shiffren can give meaning to their attendance is by standing up for Taiwan’s team. In addition to speaking out, they should compete without their national flags, since the Taiwanese are not allowed to bring theirs.

2022 must be the last year that Taiwan is bullied at the Olympics. Athletes should protest now so that the Taiwanese can compete under conditions of equality and dignity at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.