Views on Recent WCA-WSOT announcement about 3 regions Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau being renamed

[ProStar]

The Taiwanese government has responded:

世界魔方協會將會籍改中華台北 外交部：已促請恢復 | 聯合新聞網

總部在美國的「世界魔方協會」（WCA）公告將變更會員地區名稱，將台灣改為中華台北。外交部表示，已於第一時間責成駐洛杉磯辦...

udn.com

TL;DR - they're mad and have asked the WCA to revert the change.

I’ve just read the article (courtesy of google translate so it may not be entirely correct). It’s really disappointing the WCA had to make this decision, and I’ll be interested to see if and how they respond to the Taiwan government’s complaints. Like you also said, it’s even worse that the WCA hid this under the facade of trying to get into the Olympics or aligning with the IOC standards.

 

[baseballjello67]

All I can say is that I’m extremely disappointed by the actions of the WCA on the name erasure of Taiwan.
While it may seem like an insignificant name change to some younger people out there, the truth is that the Taiwanese government and people have been under immense pressure from China. It only worsened after the attack on Ukraine by Russia. The defense from the WCA states that one of the key factors in their decision was that the IOC, also known as the International Olympic Committee, changed their version of the ‘official’ name of Taiwan to Chinese Taipei. However, this action does not directly affect the WCA as they are not part of the IOC.
As stated very well by Cornelius Dieckmann, the name change of Taiwan is like changing the name of Ukraine to ‘Russian Kyiv’. The name change makes the WCA seem like they are succumbing to China’s harsh beliefs that Taiwan is a part of China and I STRONGLY disagree and so do many others.
Thanks for listening to my position.

 

[BenChristman1]

This is interesting. Burno Li Chak Kwan (a resident of Hong Kong) just got a 4.60. If the WCA truly recognizes Hong Kong as a part of the country of China, this means that this should not be an NR. Why do they have China in the official name of Hong Kong, but do not seem to recognize Hong Kong as a part of China?

 

[baseballjello67]

View attachment 25342

This is interesting. Burno Li Chak Kwan (a resident of Hong Kong) just got a 4.60. If the WCA truly recognizes Hong Kong as a part of the country of China, this means that this should not be an NR. Why do they have China in the official name of Hong Kong, but do not seem to recognize Hong Kong as a part of China?

I don't think they stated that Macau and Hong Kong would be recognized as China, but that they would be recognized as a seperate part of China? Still seems weird to me though

 

[Samuel Baird]

It looks like the change worked and the WCA was able to get back in favor with the Chinese Communist Party

World Cube Association

The World Cube Association governs competitions for mechanical puzzles that are operated by twisting groups of pieces, commonly known as 'twisty puzzles'. The most famous of these puzzles is the Rubik's Cube, invented by professor Rubik from Hungary. A selection of these puzzles are chosen as...

forum.worldcubeassociation.org

 

[Cubinginatree]

How long has it said regions and not countries?

 

[DavyP]

This is kind of annoying me, I live in Northern Ireland and for years we have had Republican dissidents and the Republic of Ireland interfering in our affairs, if my countries identity was taken away due to political pressure I would go nuts. **** the WCA and their political posturing. Taiwan is a free country under immense pressure from China. We’ll buy your cubes but not buy into your political posturing or your Covid.

 

[abunickabhi]

It is good to hear that competitions are back in China.

A lot of talented kids will compete easily now!

 

[xyzzy]

How long has it said regions and not countries?
View attachment 26050

Oh, that's funny.

The name of Taiwan [the geographical region] is not under dispute and has no political controversy attached to it—nobody seriously calls the landmass "Chinese Taipei" or any other similar compromise. With this terminology switch, they could very conceivably switch the region names back without explicitly making a stance on whether they consider Taiwan to be a country… but who are we kidding, they have no guts.

Also amusingly, Cubing China (!) only very recently updated their country/region names; for quite a while after the WCA already implemented the name change, they were still using the old "Hong Kong", "Macau" and "Taiwan" names.

 

[Billabob]

or your Covid.

Please could you elaborate on what you mean by this

 

[DavyP]

Please could you elaborate on what you mean by this

I’ve said all I’ve wanted to say regarding this matter in a concise and straight forward manner that as far as I am concerned requires no further explanation. So to save any back and forward I have nothing more to add to this thread.

 

[ProStar]

There are many Asians in America who were threatened/attacked because of their race and that it is their fault for the Pandemic and Covid. It is the government's fault, but not the people's fault. Please do not say things like this.

To be fair he pretty clearly blamed the government/China as a collective, not the individual.

 

[SkewbIsTheBestEvent]

To be fair he pretty clearly blamed the government/China as a collective, not the individual.

Rereading it again I understand what he meant, and they did spread misinformation about Covid.