Tokyo, 2 Aug. (askanews) – It could have happened, maybe it had to happen and, in the end, it happened. Taiwanese athletes – or rather Chinese Taipei, to use the name chosen for the Tokyo Olympics – clashed in a final against athletes from China. And they won, forcing their rivals to listen to the “Anthem of the flag” – his own with a modified text – of what Beijing considers only a rebel province.
On Sunday, Musashino Forest Sport Plaza, one of those Tokyo2020 venues little mentioned in Europe, but central to Asian sports because the badminton tournament is held there. Men’s doubles, the Chinese couple Liu Yuchen and Li Junhui and the Taiwanese couple Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin finish in the final. The predictions are in favor of the mainlanders: China is the dominant power in badminton. But the Taiwanese are motivated: this derby is not a simple match, there are two ways of understanding Asia, two Chinas facing each other.
And so the prediction is overturned and the Taiwanese win, arousing the anger of Chinese netizens. It is Chinese Taipei’s first gold in badminton and winning it against China must be a special treat. Especially at a time when political pressure on Taiwan is strong from Beijing.
President Tsai Ing-wen, whom China sees as the devil because it sees it as a fifth pillar of the desire for independence, immediately congratulated the athletes and Lee dedicated the victory “to my beloved country, Taiwan”. Some Taiwanese internet users, then, to make fun of the Chinese, decided to change the flag of Taiwan to one that represents the lines of badminton. The island cannot even use its official flag in demonstrations.
Chinese state television does not appear to have shown images of the awards ceremony, with the anthem.
