China drops out of Battle of the Year dance competition due to Taiwan flag

中國因台灣國旗而退出世界街舞大賽

Taiwan's team reaches quarterfinals


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Chinese team dropped out of the Battle of the Year dance competition to "defend its sovereignty" once they discovered the Taiwan flag would appear at the event.

Battle of the Year, also known as BOTY, is an annual international breakdancing competition established in 1990. This year, it took place in Okinawa, Japan from Dec. 3 until Monday (Dec. 12).

The Taichung-based dance troupe Hentai Unity represented Taiwan in the contest and made it to the quarterfinals. However, they and the organizers came under fire from China after China’s team voluntarily dropped out, according to Hsu Li-kang (徐立剛), the captain of Taiwan’s team.

A Chinese netizen called Chi Wang Chen Zi (旗王橙子) said in a two-minute clip that the leader of China's Bomb Jam Crew, Zhang Yang (鄭楊), suspected that the “China Taipei” team was challenging China’s sovereignty by showing a white flag during rehearsal.

Hsu shared on Facebook that, on Dec. 3, the Japanese organizer asked him not to wave a Taiwanese flag at the contest or China’s team would quit. "The host wanted us to cooperate because they wanted both sides to stay in the game," said Hsu.

Hsu was confused by the request, "Showing the Taiwanese flag has been a tradition since 2004, so why can't we do it this year?" he lamented.

“They told us if we showed a Taiwanese flag, they would look bad when they returned to China, so they asked us to use a Chinese Taipei flag instead,” Hsu continued.

Hsu explained that he understands the awkward situation for his opponents, but he also insisted that if he backed off, the difficult situation would turn on him. “I am really depressed. My Chinese friends told me it is their lifelong dream to participate in BOTY, and it was their only chance after 20 years of training,” he said.

Taiwan’s rep emphasized that he just wanted to do his best and make his country proud. He also called for netizens based in China to stop the online attacks because everyone had tried their best to solve the issue.