TAIPEI, Taiwan — Imagine if the United States were to hold a major international event, but one of the conditions was for it to call itself “British Washington.”



Something similar has confronted Taiwan, the self-ruled island that is officially known as the Republic of China, but that has long been compelled to compete in international sporting events as “Chinese Taipei.” In recent days, however, it has pushed back against an attempt to apply that label to its actual territory.

For athletes representing Taiwan in the Olympics or the Little League World Series, playing under the name “Chinese Taipei’’ rather than “Taiwan’’ has been the price of participation since 1981, when Taiwan signed an agreement with the International Olympic Committee to resolve the issue of two different governments — the Communists on the Chinese mainland and the Kuomintang, or Nationalists, on Taiwan — each claiming to be the legitimate leader of China.

The I.O.C. had suggested that the Republic of China could compete as Taiwan. But that was unacceptable to the Kuomintang, which, in the wake of its retreat to the island after its defeat by the Communists in 1949, insisted on retaining a connection to China in whatever name was used. These days, however, any change to the Chinese Taipei name in sports events is opposed by Beijing, which claims Taiwan as its territory and rejects any gesture that might suggest formal independence from China.