Athletes from the island of Taiwan on Wednesday gathered in Taipei to reject a referendum to change the name of its team from "Chinese Taipei" to "Taiwan," as it would shut Taiwan athletes out of the international arena.
Athletes, including track and field athlete Cheng Chao-tsun and Olympics gold medalist Hsu Shu-ching shouted, "I reject the name change referendum!" during the press conference in Taipei, Taiwan-based chinatimes.com reported on Wednesday.
Lin said she was disappointed with the inaction of the Tsai Ing-wen government. "Our only protection is the Lausanne agreement. The deal is the only way to provide us with a stage and show our abilities, and to make people aware of where we come from,"Lin was quoted as saying in the report.
Voters will decide in a referendum on Saturday whether the island should compete as "Taiwan" rather than "Chinese Taipei" at all international sporting events, including the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, South China Morning Post reported on Tuesday. The referendum is one of the 10 voting events on Saturday during the local public service elections.
The International Olympic Committee has already sent three letters to the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, the non-government entity which manages Taiwan's presence at international sporting events, reiterating its position on the matter, Taiwan News reported on Tuesday.
A name change would result the Taiwan losing its Olympic membership status, since Taiwan is neither a UN member, nor a member of International Committee of the Red Cross, the news site chinatimes.com said.
