Chinese Taipei men’s badminton doubles pair under fire for pro-independence support
Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin were the targets of ‘China, Taiwan’ chants from fans at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Centre
A Chinese Taipei men’s doubles badminton team has come under fire for being supporters of an independent Taiwan while competing at the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals in Hangzhou.
Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin were playing against fellow Chinese Taipei athletes Lee Jhe-Huei and Yang Po-Hsuan when a woman in the stands was heard shouting in Chinese “Lee Yang, you know Taiwan is part of China, right?”
Many in the crowd at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Expo Centre cheered the woman’s remarks and united in chanting “China, Taiwan”.
Lee and Wang were seen laughing while the crowd continued to chant as they awaited the result of a challenge.
The pair have both previously come under fire from Chinese social media users after they posted on Facebook that they were “Taiwanese and proud” after beating mainland China’s Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen to win Olympic gold in Tokyo in 2021.
Fuel was added to the fire when television host and actress Dee Hsu Hsi-di threw her support behind the two and referred to Lee and Wang as “national champions”.
