Taiwan's athletes will march in Olympics Opening Ceremony after name dispute with China

Feb. 1 (UPI) -- Taiwan's Olympic team will be a part of the Opening Ceremony on Friday for the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, organizers said Tuesday.

Taiwanese officials had been weighing whether to involve the athletes in the traditional opening event, given its longstanding opposition and political fallout that's resulted from China's claim to the island over the last two decades.

China claims Taiwan as a breakaway territory, whereas Taiwan considers itself independent -- and both countries lay claim to the "China" name.

The International Olympic Committee had encouraged Taiwan to allow its athletes to participate in the Opening Ceremony.

Taiwan Olympic officials originally told the IOC that it would not participate due to COVID-19 concerns -- and last week expressed more concern about Beijing's insistence on referring to it as Taipei, China, instead of Chinese Taipei.

Taiwan has been using the name Chinese Taipei since 1989, as the island cannot use the name Taiwan in the Olympic Games because most of the international community doesn't recognize it as an independent nation.

"China intentionally called the Taiwanese team by the incorrect name of 'Taipei, China,' which will only further heighten the resentment of the Taiwanese people," an official with the Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council said last week, according to Nikkei Asia.

Taiwan ultimately relented and decided to participate in the Opening Ceremony, at the insistence of the IOC.

China has been hostile to countries that have treated Taiwan as an independent state. Last week, the European Union took China to the World Trade Organization over discriminatory trade practices involving Taiwan.

Beijing also began to restrict or block imports and exports linked to Lithuania after the Baltic nation established economic ties with Taiwan.