Kaohsiung Asian Gay Games Sees Surge in Chinese Athletes; MAC: Mainland Will Not Approve

(Central News Agency reporter Liao Wen-chi, Taipei, 30th) Reports indicate a surge in Chinese athletes registering for the 2026 Asian Gay Games in Kaohsiung. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) stated today that many cases have been rejected due to ineligibility, and the MAC has not received any review documents. Even if Taiwan approves, mainland China will not approve their participation in the Gay Games in Taiwan.

The 2026 Asian Gay Games will be held in Kaohsiung. The number of Chinese athletes has surged from a two-digit figure last time to 834, accounting for 46% of the total 1,800 registrants. Some registrants reportedly have Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) backgrounds or used AI to generate forged documents. The Kaohsiung City Sports Development Bureau stated that it has asked the organizers to explain and clarify the itineraries of the Chinese athletes and has temporarily suspended the immigration registration process.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) held its regular press conference today, chaired by Vice Chairman and Spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh.

Liang Wen-chieh stated that not a single case has reached the MAC, as the MAC is the final checkpoint. The review process involves the Sports Administration, Kaohsiung City Sports Development Bureau, and the National Immigration Agency. Many applications were rejected at earlier stages due to ineligibility, and applicants failed to provide supplementary documents. Therefore, the MAC has not reviewed any cases so far.

He said that the organizer this time is the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association, not the Kaohsiung City Government, unlike the previous World Masters Games where the Taipei and New Taipei City governments had ample manpower to audit individual cases.

Regarding the issue of some Chinese athletes having PLA backgrounds, Liang Wen-chieh said that since they have not seen the application documents, they do not know whether there are indeed PLA backgrounds.

Liang Wen-chieh said, "Even if we approve their entry permits to Taiwan, they probably won't get approval from the mainland side to come to Taiwan, because it's impossible for them to agree to you going to Taiwan to participate in the Gay Games." Mainland Chinese need approval from the local public security bureau to come to Taiwan. If the reason for going to Taiwan is "I'm going to participate in the Taiwan Gay Games," "it's clearly not going to be granted."

He believes that the significant increase in registrations is due to online promotions, where many people felt that by paying a small registration fee, they could get an opportunity to travel to Taiwan. Therefore, there were many registrants, "but I highly doubt whether they are truly gay people coming to participate in sports."

Liang Wen-chieh said he hopes that when the event is held again, relevant units can pay attention, as mainland Chinese coming to Taiwan require individual applications, "every single one will be reviewed by us." (Editor: Yang Sheng-ru) 1150430

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