THE LAST TURKEY

I was watching the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics earlier and was surprised to see the above flag used by Taiwan... or should I say Chinese Taipei.

Chinese Taipei is the designated name used by the Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, to participate in most international organizations, due to the persistent diplomatic pressure from the People's Republic of China (PRC), which does not recognize the Republic of China (ROC) as a sovereign nation.

In November 1979, the International Olympic Committee and later all the international sports federations adopted a resolution which recognized the National Olympic Committee of Taiwan as the National Olympic Committee of Chinese Taipei and every sports team or athlete from Taiwan would compete as Chinese Taipei. Under this resolution, Chinese Taipei adopted the Chinese Taipei Olympic Flag, which consists of the emblem of the National Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee on a white background, and since the 1984 Summer Olympics has participated always with this name and under this flag at the Olympics, Paralympics, and other international events.