Berg Wu remembers the pride he felt when he was crowned world barista champion. The stands that June day in Dublin were packed with cheering friends as he bested competitors from more than 50 countries to take first place at the 2016 World Coffee Championships (WCC).
The first Taiwanese person to win the competition, he draped the red, blue and white nationalist flag of the Republic of China – Taiwan’s official name – over his shoulders as he posed for pictures with his award.
But a decade on, that victory will now have an asterisk next to it in his mind. On Wednesday, the Taiwan Coffee Association announced it had been informed by WCC organisers that all Taiwanese participants were now required to compete under the name “Chinese Taipei” as a “basic and unavoidable condition for participating”.
The move applies retroactively, Wu says, meaning his victory now represents an entity he does not recognise.
“The whole process was extremely opaque. It just happened,” Wu tells the Guardian. “None of us competitors and no one in the wider coffee community had heard anything about this beforehand.”
For decades Olympians from Taiwan – formally the Republic of China – have had to compete under the team name “Chinese Taipei”, under an International Olympic Committee rule often attributed to pressure from the Chinese Communist party government, which claims Taiwan as Chinese territory it intends to annex. China uses its hefty influence to shrink as much of Taiwan’s international space as it can, whether that’s at the United Nations or a birdwatching association.
The WCC’s move has enraged members of Taiwan’s coffee community and beyond. One barista, going by the handle “roaster_johnny” on the Threads social media platform, says the decision made him “so angry [he] was shaking”. Though representation at the World Coffee Championships is a far cry from the Olympics, to many Taiwanese within the coffee community and beyond, the WCC’s move is the latest blow in the global erasure campaign waged by China that has seen a number of organisations label Taiwan as Chinese Taipei.
Taipei’s remaining diplomatic allies have shrunk to just 12 countries over recent decades, as China has wielded its growing political and economic might to isolate the democratically ruled island – which it claims as a breakaway province, despite never having ruled it.
International companies, fearful of losing access to what is fast becoming the world’s largest consumer market, are increasingly referring to Taiwan as a “province of China” as they yield to Beijing’s wishes. Sean Chen, a professor at the National Taiwan Sport University and former president of the Taiwan Society of Sport Sociology, says this is the “so-called ‘Olympic formula’” spreading.
“They’re trying to erase all Taiwanese implications in international societies, not just sports. The worst thing is that even Taiwanese are getting used to it.”
After 19 years of participants competing under the name Taiwan – including at the 2026 World Latte Art Championship in San Diego in April, where Taiwanese barista Lin Shao-sing was declared winner – many are questioning the WCC decision.
The Taiwan Coffee Association says talks are ongoing with the WCC. But should they be unwilling to reverse their decision, Wu recognises that he has few choices beyond reluctant compliance.
“When an organisation like the WCC makes this kind of announcement, if you don’t agree, it effectively means you can’t compete,” he says. “That’s the reality.”
