On 1 August, British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) Co-Chairs Nigel Evans MP and Lord Rogan issued a statement in support of Taichung’s right to host the East Asian Youth Games (EAYG) next year in Taiwan, following the East Asian Olympic Committee (EAOC)’s cancellation of the Games due to Chinese pressure. “We are dismayed to learn that members of the EAOC voted in an extraordinary Council meeting in Beijing on 24 July to revoke the right of Taichung city to host the first-ever EAYG in Taiwan from 24 to 31 August in 2019,” the statement read. The APPG Co-Chairs pointed out that the EAOC’s decision not only undermines the rights of the 2,300 competing athletes and delegation members from the nine countries and regions in East Asia, but also violates the Olympic spirit as well as the EAOC’s Constitution. The statement also highlighted China’s boycott to pressure the EAOC into cancelling the Games was hasty and extremely unfair to the host city of Taichung, which had spent the past three years preparing.
“From the recent case of pressuring international airlines to change Taiwan’s designation to this unfair resolution made by the EAOC, it is obvious that China’s politically motivated pressure has expanded to non-political areas,” the statement warned. The APPG Co-Chairs concluded by calling on the EAOC to reinstate Taichung City’s hosting of the Games in order to protect the rights of athletes and safeguard the Olympic spirit. Representative Lin later expressed his deep appreciation to Nigel Evans MP and Lord Rogan as well as other APPG members for their long-term support of Taiwan in international society.
