Wang Ling-hua, a police officer with the Taipei City Police Department, has caused a stir over her decision to display the Taiwan flag at the World Police and Fire Games, held in Winnipeg over the weekend.
According to Taiwan News, the controversy started after Ling-hua displayed the flag of Taiwan on the podium as the athletes collected their medals. One Taiwanese police officer took issue with the display, claiming that it went against the “Olympic model.” The Olympic model chooses to only display the Chinese Taipei banner in accordance with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). This is in an effort to acknowledge Taiwan as a territory of China.
Taiwan has governed itself independently since 1949 however, the CCP has vowed to reunify the island with mainland China eventually, even using force if necessary.
Another Taiwanese police officer said he was from the National Police Agency (NPA) and told Ling-hua to take the banner down.
A video of their exchange was posted to Facebook by Huang Yuh-min, a member of the Taoyuan Fire Department. Yuh-min called Ling-hua’s tone “threatening” and said that the team could be potentially banned for the display. However, the Chinese team was not in attendance at the ceremony and many other Taiwanese athletes ran over to pose alongside Ling-hua and the flag.
Huang also stated that a number of Canadians cheered for Taiwan as the team entered the gymnasium. The team was introduced as “Chinese Taipei” by the announcer but the Canadian host of the event later referred to them as “Team Taiwan.”
The NPA made a statement in response to the incident, saying that Taiwan’s delegation has “always participated under the principle of taking into account the rights and interests of athletes and fully safeguarding national sovereignty and dignity.”
Taiwan’s medal count at the event was three golds, four silvers and one bronze thus far with Ling-hua being responsible for two of those gold medals. She won in the bikini fitness and physique events. She dawned the Taiwanese flag at the podium both times that she received her medal.
“I would like to thank all the teammates who came to cheer me on and helped to calm my nerves on the first day of competition. It truly made me feel happy and empowered. I hope to use these two gold medals to help cheer and support all my teammates and achieve even greater success.” she said, according to the NPA.
The games will continue running until August 6th.
