When Taiwanese athletes entered the arena during the Tokyo Olympics’ opening ceremony, Mayuko Wakuda, an announcer at Japanese broadcaster NHK, said: “It’s Taiwan.” It struck a chord with all Taiwanese, who began enthusiastically sharing the clip.

Saying “all Taiwanese” might not be entirely true, because Chinese were mad, and some people who live in Taiwan, but think they are Chinese, were mad, too.

Amazingly, playing up to the Chinese Communist Party, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) said that “this is not the time to push the name rectification campaign.”

Under pressure from China’s years-long infiltration of international organizations and use of its influence, “Chinese Taipei” has become the only name Taiwan can use at international competitions. However, during the opening ceremony of the Tokyo Olympics, Japanese public broadcaster NHK referred to “Chinese Taipei” as the “Taiwanese” team in its reporting. It was an expression not only of the good relationship between Taiwan and Japan, but also helps Taiwan take a giant leap toward lifting the “Chinese Taipei” curse.

Syringes of Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corp’s MVC COVID-19 vaccine are pictured in an undated photograph.
Photo courtesy of the Food and Drug Administration

The inspection of the first four batches of the domestic COVID-19 vaccine has been completed and the doses are ready to be rolled out, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday.