Taiwan has accused China of “bullying” and the Fifa World Cup organizers in Qatar of “scoring an own goal” by listing Taiwanese tourists as coming from “Chinese Taipei.”
According to Reuters, Taiwan’s foreign ministry slammed the move, saying that organizers in Qatar were “unable to completely resist the interference of illegitimate political forces.”
China “has consistently and openly used its phony ‘one-China concept’ to continue to degrade Taiwan internationally and create the erroneous impression that Taiwan belongs to China,” according to the ministry.
The claims were also made in response to a tweet from the World Cup organizers.
“Imagine a [Fifa World Cup] final where all supporters of the beautiful game may attend under the appropriate country designations.
“Shame on authoritarian [China] for pressuring [Qatar 2022] organizers into omitting democratic [Taiwan] and scoring an own goal.” Shame!”
Taiwan has expressed its displeasure when Qatar altered its name in a dropdown menu on the application website for the “Hayya” card, which is required for all World Cup spectators visiting the country.
Taiwan’s name was purportedly altered to “Chinese Taipei” in the card’s dropdown menu by World Cup officials.
Taiwan was previously featured on the Hayya card website as “Taiwan, Province of China,” implying that Taiwan was a part of China.
Following concerns from Taiwan’s foreign ministry last week, the phrase “Taiwan, Province of China” was substituted with “Taiwan.”
According to Focus Taiwan, Taiwan praised Qatar for protecting the rights of Taiwanese supporters.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry issued a statement on Monday after the name appeared to have reverted to “Chinese Taipei.”
While China maintains Taiwan is a part of its territory with no right to self-determination or international representation, the island claims to be a separate country.
Many countries, including Qatar, have no diplomatic connections with Taiwan and only recognize Beijing as a legitimate government.
China expressed gratitude to Qatar’s leadership following the change on Monday.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin expressed his appreciation for the Qatari government’s “commitment to the one-China principle and its handling of the issue in line with the established practice of international sports events”.
