Tokyo: A choir competition in Tokyo removed Taiwan’s flag on Saturday and changed the name under which Taiwanese teams competed after a Chinese complaint before deciding to remove all flags of competing nations on Sunday to appease protests over its decisions. The incident transpired on the second day of the three-day Tokyo International Choir Competition on Saturday, held in the Japanese capital’s Dai-ichi Seimei Hall.

According to Focus Taiwan, a Facebook post by the conductor of Taiwan’s Nibun Chorus revealed that organizers announced during a practice session that, after “receiving a complaint,” Taiwan’s official flag had to be taken down, and teams from Taiwan would be announced as competing out of “Chinese Taipei.” The coach of Nibun Chorus expressed that the announcement “came as a shock” to him.

Following the announcement, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Japan said it approached the competition’s organizers late Saturday to address the incident. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Yi-ying, who accompanied Taiwan’s choirs, and Chairman Keiji Furuya of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council, who is also a member of the Japanese House of Representatives, spoke with the competition’s organizers against the changes.

In the end, however, organizers decided to announce the three Taiwanese choirs that competed on Sunday as coming from “Chinese Taipei,” but they chose to remove the flags of all competing countries. Teams from Taiwan had been using the name “Taiwan” since the competition’s inception in 2018 before being forced to change it to “Chinese Taipei” on Sunday.

The name Chinese Taipei has been commonly used to refer to Taiwan in international sports events, especially at the Olympics and in sports in the Olympic family since 1981. Speaking with CNA, Chiu said the complaint about Taiwan’s flag and name came from China, criticizing Beijing for tarnishing the purity of a simple choir competition.

Earlier on Sunday, Chou Shyue-yow, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office’s deputy representative, and 16 other officials from the office approached organizers again to address the decision and deter any further actions by China. After discussions, the office noted that while the host of the event still announced the teams as coming from Chinese Taipei, the name Taiwan was used on multiple occasions, emphasizing that “the competition has nothing to do with politics.”

Taiwan’s top representative to Japan, Lee I-yang, remarked that Taiwan had been able to compete as “Taiwan” during the previous six iterations of the event. He criticized China’s interference this year and expressed regret that the organizers capitulated to China’s requests. Lee believed that Japan, with its greater friendship with Taiwan than China, should understand that Taiwan is distinct from China. He suggested that Beijing’s aggressive tactics would only further antagonize Japan and expose China’s own shortcomings.