By Richa Naidu
PARIS (Reuters) – Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the removal of a spectator from the badminton venue at the Paris Olympics for holding up a green banner reading “Taiwan go for it” during competition on Friday.
Green, the colour of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, is used by people who support Taiwan’s separate identity from China and, often, Taiwan independence.
Two Reuters journalists saw the spectator being bodily removed up a staircase, shouting, while Taiwanese shuttler Chou Tien Chen was playing.
Taiwan competes at the Olympics as Chinese Taipei to avoid objections from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory. Taiwan’s government rejects Chinese sovereignty claims.
In a statement on Saturday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned “the crude and despicable means by malicious people to arbitrarily snatch the slogan ‘Taiwan go for it’ from our country’s national during the Olympic Games.
“This violent act is not only ill educated but also seriously violates the spirit of civilization represented by the Olympic Games, and it is even more contrary to the rule of law and infringes on freedom of expression”.
The statement said other fans holding banners with the word “Taiwan” on them had been removed by security.
The island’s de facto ambassador to France, Francois Wu, had reported the incident to local police, the statement said.
Wu posted a picture of himself with the spectator on Facebook saying: “Thank you to the students who have worked hard to cheer for our badminton heroes! Come on Taiwan!”.
When asked about the incident on Saturday, International Olympics Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a news conference that the conditions of entry to Olympic venues were made clear on each ticket.
The terms and conditions of entry to Olympic venues allows the display only of flags of countries and territories participating in the games and forbids any banners that display political messages.
Badminton is a hugely popular sport in both Taiwan and China and both sets of fans have been out in full-force at this Olympics.
While some Taiwanese fans have stuck to holding up the official Chinese Taipei Olympic flag, many in the crowd have roared “Taiwan!” when players like Tai Tzu Ying have taken to the court.
(Reporting by Richa Naidu; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Karolos Grohmann; Editing by Alison Williams)
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