TPE meaning in Regional ?

"Chinese Taipei" is a designated term being used in various international organizations and tournaments for the representation of the Republic of China (ROC), a sovereign state commonly known as Taiwan.

Due to the One-China policy stipulated by the People's Republic of China (PRC, China), Taiwan, being a non-UN member after its expulsion in 1971 with ongoing dispute of its sovereignty, demanded restriction of use or display for any of its national symbols such as national name, anthem and flag that would represent the statehood of Taiwan at international events. This dissension eventually came to a compromise when the term "Chinese Taipei" was first proposed in the Nagoya Resolution in 1979, whereby the ROC/Taiwan and the PRC/China recognize the right of participation to each other and remain as separate teams in any activities of the International Olympic Committee and its correlates. This term came into official use in 1981 following a name change of Olympic Committee of the ROC to Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee. Such arrangement later became a model for the ROC/Taiwan to continue participating in various international organizations and affairs in diplomacy other than the Olympic games, including the World Trade Organization, the World Health Organization, the Metre Convention, APEC, and international pageants.

"Chinese Taipei" is a deliberately ambiguous term, which is equivocal about the political status of the ROC/Taiwan, and the meaning of "Chinese" (Zhōnghuá, Chinese: 中華) can either be interpreted as national identity or cultural sphere (similar ethnonyms as Anglo, Arab, or Hispanic), "Taipei" is only reflected as its capital city which does not specify the geographical extent of the ROC. It was considered as a more inclusive term than just "Taiwan" to either the Kuomintang, the ruling party of the ROC at the time, or the PRC, whilst both sides were contending their legitimacy over the whole "China" that regarded to encompass both of mainland China and Taiwan. To the PRC's perspective, the use of "Taiwan" as a national title would imply a de jure independence of Taiwan apart from the PRC. The term "Taiwan, China" or "Chinese Taiwan" was also rejected because it might be construed as Taiwan being a subordinate region to the PRC.

There is an ongoing movement of Taiwan Name Rectification Campaign to seek alteration of the formal name from "Chinese Taipei" to "Taiwan" for the representation in Olympic games or further potential international events. A nationwide referendum was held in 2018, in which a proposal of the name change was rejected. The main argument voting against such a move was concerning that the consequence of the renaming impact is immensely uncertain, at worst, Taiwan may lose its Olympic membership under Chinese pressure, which would result in Taiwanese athletes unable to compete in the Olympics. This was the case when Taiwan was stripped of the right to host 2019 East Asian Youth Games amid its renaming issue with China during that year.