Taipei, Feb. 4 (CNA) Led by speed skater Huang Yu-ting (黃郁婷) and skier Ho Ping-jui (何秉睿), Taiwan marched in the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics at the National Stadium in Beijing Friday night, marking a reversal of the Sports Administration's previous stance of nonattendance.
The Sports Administration had declared last week that Taiwan would not march in the Parade of Nations, citing flight schedules and COVID-19 pandemic-control measures.
However, following pressure from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), three people representing Taiwan entered the stadium for the ceremony, sandwiched in between Japan and Hong Kong.
Announced as "Chinese Taipei," Huang and Ho carried the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag into the National Stadium, which was also the main venue for the 2008 Summer Olympics in the same city.
Taiwan's reluctant attitude to the nonsporting elements of the Games comes against a backdrop of a U.S.-led "diplomatic boycott."
Unlike a traditional boycott, U.S. athletes will still attend the games but they will not be joined by government officials, with Washington citing "genocide and crimes against humanity" in the Xinjiang region as the reason for the move.
Speed skater Huang - who carried the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag for Taiwan at the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Games in 2018, and who is making her second appearance at the Olympics - faced a backlash on social media Thursday after posting a training video of her wearing a Chinese national team skinsuit.
Huang had since apologized, and while the Sports Administration chided Huang for not showing enough awareness of the sensitivity of cross-Taiwan Strait politics, it added she would not be punished or reprimanded for the video and would compete for Taiwan as planned.
Huang will compete in the women's 500m, 1000m, and 1500m races, while Ho and skier Lee Wen-yi (李玟儀) will appear in the men's and women's slalom, respectively; and Lin Sin-rong (林欣蓉) will take part in the luge women's singles.
