The Taiwanese government announced on Thursday that it was cutting the subsidies of one of its Olympic flag bearers to punish her for having worn the uniform of the Chinese national team in the run-up to the Beijing 2022 Olympics while the Taiwan-China relations are at their lowest in years.
Government grants allowing speed skater Huang Yu-ting to train and compete have been suspended for two years due to her "
repeated controversial behavior and remarks
", the Taiwanese sports administration said in a statement. communicated.
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The athlete caused a scandal at the end of January by publishing a video in which she trained wearing the official combination of the Chinese national team.
She took down the video after an avalanche of criticism, explaining that a Chinese friend had given her the garment, which she had worn "out
of friendship
".
Huang "
has violated the duties related to his role as a member of the national team ... and has damaged the honor of the country as well as the feelings of the people
", says the local sports administration which plans to revise its regulations governing the conduct of national team athletes so that they "
preserve national dignity
".
Sport should just be sport.
In sport, we do not distinguish between nationalities
Huang Yu-ting
Huang, 33, was one of four Taiwanese athletes who took part in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, under the colors of "
Chinese Taipei
", the name of Taiwan in international competitions.
Huang Yu-ting had already drawn criticism when she said in an interview with Chinese media that she felt "
at home
" in Beijing.
“
Sport should just be sport.
In sport, we do not distinguish between nationalities
“, she wrote on her Facebook page, which has since disappeared.
The island's relations with Beijing have been frosty since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, deeming the island to be a sovereign nation and not part of China.
Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since the Communists seized power in Beijing in 1949 and the Nationalist government fled to Taiwan.
The Chinese communist regime considers the island as one of its provinces destined to return to its fold, if necessary by force.