Controversy over Taiwan’s support at the Nagoya Asian Games: Operational error or administrative inertia?

The 20th Asian Games was held in Nagoya, Japan from September 19 to October 4. A total of 45 countries and refugee delegations participated. However, the Taiwanese team, which played under the name "Chinese Taipei", caused controversy due to the way the audience supported them.

During a baseball game between Taiwan and China on September 25, some Taiwanese spectators tried to cheer for the team by waving towels with the word "Taiwan" written on them, but were stopped by on-site staff. During the match between Taiwan and Japan the next day, icons of a rising sun flag and a blue sky with a white sun and red flags covering the ground were posted at the entrance to the venue, with the sign "It is prohibited to carry the above flags."

According to the "Nagoya Resolution" of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1979, Taiwan participated in the Olympic Movement under the name "Chinese Taipei", and the red flag with blue sky and white sun on the ground cannot be used as a representative flag in relevant international sports events; however, support towels with the word "Taiwan" written on them are not prohibited.

In this regard, the Taiwanese and Japanese audiences at the scene questioned: "This is not a political opinion. Why are the five-star red flag and the Korean flag okay?"

The organizing committee of the conference said afterwards: "We will stop items that may cause misunderstanding based on on-site judgment, but this time it was a misunderstanding between the on-site staff and the person in charge of the venue," and apologized for this.

Tsuyoshi Nojima, a senior Japanese journalist based in Taiwan for a long time, also pointed out to the Mainichi Shimbun: "This is an overreaction by the organizers of the conference. It would be understandable if the flag of the 'Republic of China' was used, but even 'Taiwan' should not be controlled. In the Japanese team's competition, even if the slogan 'Yamato Soul' is held high, there will be no problem."

However, the General Assembly does not handle other events that may also involve political sensitivity in the same way. Hong Kong-Australian Howard

In addition, the organizer once mistakenly played the North Korean national anthem during a match between the North Korean men's hockey team and South Korea, and later apologized for this.

Regarding the successive operational problems of the conference, the "Asahi Shimbun" pointed out from a practical level that the subsequent impact of the Tokyo Olympics collusion incident made it impossible for the conference to sign relevant contracts with major advertising companies with experience in operating large-scale sports events. A senior Japanese journalist who requested anonymity told DW that the Asian Games are mainly dominated by local governments such as Aichi Prefecture and Nagoya City, and the relevant disputes are not directly related to the Japanese government’s foreign policy.

He said: "Local government officials may just directly and strictly manage venues and spectators in accordance with the regulations of the International Olympic Committee. Local government officials do not have much experience in hosting large-scale international sports events."

Japanese politician Kenichi Kawamura also told DW: "Events like the Olympics that are deeply involved in the operation of the state will indeed be subject to considerable political influence; but in Japan, sports, culture and art activities are usually less affected by the political policies of the ruling authorities at the time. In other words, these activities are basically operated from an independent and neutral stance."

Masatoshi Murakami, a former member of the House of Representatives and current professor at Kōgakukan University, told DW: "This crisis is a practical issue at the operational level of the conference. It would be too early to link it to the development direction of the regime or the entire society. The current Takaashi regime attaches great importance to Taiwan and is accelerating preparations for 'something happens in Taiwan.' In addition, Japanese society also has a high degree of favorability towards Taiwan."

In fact, after Takaichi Sanae became prime minister in October last year, he stated in November that if China blocks Taiwan or uses force, it may constitute an "existing crisis situation" in which Japan can exercise its right to collective self-defense. Since then, the support rate of the Gao City Government has increased, and the Liberal Democratic Party also won a resounding victory in the House of Representatives election in February this year, further consolidating its ruling foundation.

Therefore, although the Nagoya Asian Games' handling of "Taiwan" is regarded as an operational issue, it still leaves a question: If it is just to implement the existing regulations, why should the prohibition of carrying the rising sun flag and the blue sky and white sun and the red flag be posted directly at the entrance? Looking back at history, Japan has indeed adopted some highly specific and even "visible" separation measures when dealing with sensitive diplomatic issues involving Taiwan.

After Japan and China established diplomatic relations in 1972 and Taiwan and Japan severed diplomatic ties, Narita International Airport opened in 1978. Tokyo's international routes were in principle transferred from Haneda to Narita. However, China Airlines did not move to Narita with other foreign airlines and continued to use Haneda Airport, which is dedicated to domestic flights. The background is China's request and the political issues caused by preventing Chinese and Taiwanese airlines from using the same airport. This type of "airport separation" arrangement is quite rare in other countries.

Therefore, China Airlines has long operated routes to Taipei and Honolulu in the United States from Haneda until it moved to Narita in 2002. However, this arrangement unexpectedly brought benefits to China Airlines. On the eve of the relocation, the head of China Airlines' public relations told the Taipei Times, "Over the past 27 years, Haneda's proximity to the city center has been a major advantage for the company in operating Taipei-Tokyo routes." It only takes about 20 minutes to get to the center of Tokyo by rail from Haneda, and about an hour from Narita.

A similar situation exists with airline arrangements. In 1975, Japan Airlines established a separate company, "Japan Asia Airways", which was responsible for Taiwan routes to avoid possible diplomatic frictions caused by Japan Airlines operating routes to China and Taiwan at the same time. ANA has been operating Taiwan routes through its subsidiary Air Nippon since 1994. However, after Taiwan and Japan reached a new aviation agreement in 2007, Japan Airlines and ANA were able to directly operate Taiwan routes.

However, this practice of separating Taiwan routes from the parent company is not unique to Japan. In the 1990s, airlines including the United Kingdom, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Australia also established Asian subsidiaries or special brands to operate Taiwan routes.

What is noteworthy is not that "only Japan has treated Taiwan specially", but that Japan has transformed diplomatic ambiguity and sensitivity into very specific and visible operational divisions - different companies, different routes, and even different airports.

Nearly half a century later, although the Nagoya Asian Games does not have the same diplomatic background, it is still worth exploring whether the move from the abstract provision of "flags of non-participating countries" to the display of specific flag patterns directly at the entrance of the venue reflects Japanese administrative culture's tendency to transform political ambiguity into concrete and visible rules.