Chinese Taipei

"Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan.

Due to the One China principle stipulated by the People's Republic of China (PRC, China), Taiwan, being a non-UN member after its expulsion in 1971 with ongoing dispute of its sovereignty, was prohibited from using or displaying any of its national symbols that would represent the statehood of Taiwan, such as its national name, anthem and flag, at international events. The term "Chinese Taipei" was first proposed in 1979 and was eventually approved in the Nagoya Resolution, whereby both the ROC/Taiwan and the PRC/China obtained their right of participation and would remain as separate delegations in any activities of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and its associated organizations. This term came into official use in 1981 following a name change of the Republic of China Olympic Committee (ROCOC) to the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. This arrangement later became a model for the ROC/Taiwan to continue participating in various international organizations and diplomatic affairs other than the Olympic Games, including the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the Metre Convention, APEC, and international pageants.

"Chinese Taipei" is a deliberately ambiguous term, designed to be equivocal about the political status of the ROC/Taiwan. The meaning of "Chinese" (Zhōnghuá, Chinese: 中華) is also ambiguous, so that either party is able to interpret it as national identity or cultural sphere (similar to ethnonyms as Anglo, Arab, Hispanic or Iranian). The specific mention of "Taipei", the capital city of the ROC, is to avoid disputes over the territorial extent of the ROC. Since the IOC has ruled out the use of the name "Republic of China", the neologism was considered as an expedient resolution and a more inclusive term than just "Taiwan" to both the Kuomintang, the ruling party of the ROC at the time during the Nagoya Resolution, and the PRC. The PRC's persistent policy is to keep Taipei isolated on the world stage and disagrees with any use of "Taiwan" as an official title, in order to prevent Taiwan from gaining international recognition for "independent statehood" separate from the PRC. The term "Taiwan, China" or "Taipei, China" was rejected by the ROC government because it could be construed as Taiwan being a subordinate region to the PRC.

Popular opinion in Taiwan has changed drastically in regard to the cross-strait relations and the nationalistic discourses since the democratization of Taiwan and the end of one-party rule by the Kuomintang. "Chinese Taipei" has since been viewed by many Taiwanese as an anachronistic, aggravating, and humiliating term. The Taiwan Name Rectification Campaign sought to alter the formal name from "Chinese Taipei" to "Taiwan" for representation in Olympic Games and further potential international events. A nationwide referendum was held in 2018, in which a proposal for the name change was rejected. The main argument against such a move was the uncertain consequences of such a renaming; at worst, the renaming dispute could be used by China as an excuse to pressure the IOC to exclude Taiwan from participating in the Olympic Games completely and force its existing membership to be revoked. This was the case when Taiwan was stripped of the right to host the 2019 East Asian Youth Games amid its renaming issue with China during that year.