Did anyone else notice that First doesn’t recognize Taiwan’s independence?
They havent for years and i dont expect them to anytime soon with their interest in expanding into China.
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I was going to mention this but I fell asleep once Dean started talking.
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Do you think it’s concerning to place expansionism over our moral obligations?
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Every company on the planet does this with China. Its nothing new
Well, as a Chinese FRC team member, I have to say that China often goes extreme when talking to the Taiwan problem. FIRST will definitely be banished from China if they do so,making it impossible for any team in China to take part in FRC forever. That’s gonna be a horrible thing for all 43 teams in China.Afterall,FIRST is there to spread Science and Technology, not to discuss politic problems ,and , it’s not some sort of moral problem,I guess?
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As an international “sports” organization, I wouldn’t expect FIRST to upset a country for the sake of scoring some brownie points with Americans. As it stands, the olympics-esque recognition of Taiwan as “Chinese Taipei” is a good middle ground IMO.
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Cubes also state “MADE IN TAIWAN” around the filling hole.
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I think I’d prefer to call it Chinese Taipei and give the opportunity to kids in China to join the program, then maybe one of the kids we impact will rise to fix the issue later on. 
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I’ve been told in the past that because FIRST HQ in the US it utilizes the US diplomatic policy in regards to naming. TBH I can’t verify this or anything as it was a few years ago.
That being said. FUN utilizes Taiwan in content such as Behind the Bumpers with teams from Taiwan. Personally if we are interviewing or speaking with a team from a country and they prefer to be called something else (like Taiwan) I’m not going to say no, FIRST calls you this so sorry.
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I love “Chinese Taipei”, it makes me snicker every time I hear it. Like calling Canada “American Ottawa” or Ireland “British Dublin”. I’m sure there’s a more sensical reason for it, but as an English speaker the name sounds utterly deranged.
Blair has let “Taiwan” slip a few times where Taiwanese teams are competing, and I’ve heard other GAs go back and forth.
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Very morally subjective
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same
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This is among my favorite Twitch clips of all time
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The “sensical reason” for it is that at the time that compromise was created, both the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China claimed to be the legitimate government of all of China. That name was created as a way to recognize that claim without affirming it. Since then the ROC has (unofficially) backed off on their claims, but no one has come up with a better compromise everyone can agree with.
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West Taiwan really shouldn’t be called “China” in official FRC videos and documents.
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I mean more of a linguistic or historic justification for that specific name, perhaps something lost in translation. As far as I can find it was chosen to be as vague as possible, which attracts attention by how nonsensical it reads.
Personally, this was my favorite Dean speech in a looooong long time. His embrace of the re-distribution of “intellectual property” to achieve greater societal good as opposed to individual gain pleased me a lot.
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