Taipei - Taiwan's Taichung City will bid for the 2017 East Asian Games, to pave the way for Taiwan to host large sports events including the Olympic Games, Taichung Mayor Jason Hu said Wednesday. "Taichung will build three large sports centres next year. We have eight years to prepare for the East Asian Games," he said while watching the 2009 National Athletic Games held in Taichung, central Taiwan.
When President Ma Ying-jeou took office in May 2008, he pledged to promote sports and help Taiwan bid to host large multi-sports events, starting with the University, East Asian Games, Asian Games and Olympics Games.
The campaign is to break Taiwan's international isolation, as China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province and bars Taiwan from joining international organizations.
The isolation also extends also to the sports arena as China requires Taiwan to use the title "Chinese-Taipei" - which signifies Taiwan is part of China - in international sports organizations and when attending sports competitions.
The East Asian Games was launched by the East Asian Games Association in 1993, and is held every four years.
Since 1993, the East Asian Games have been held in Shanghai (China), Busan (South Korea), Osaka (Japan) and Macau (China).
The 2009 East Asian Games will take place in Hong Kong December 5-13 with more than 3,000 athletes competing in 262 events in 22 sports.
The 2013 East Asian Games will be held in Tianjin (China).
Participants in the East Asian Games are China, Guam, Hong Kong (China), Japan, Macau (China), North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia and Chinese-Taipei.
