Annual grand APEC sports event the 2025 ASPN Round Table Meeting & Forum held in Japan
The prestigious annual APEC sports event, the "2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Sports Policy Network Roundtable Meeting and Forum (2025 ASPN Roundtable Meeting & Forum)," took place in Japan February 6th to 7th. During the two-day event, discussions on specialized sports topics, a display of sports innovations, and sports event observer activities featured 25 speakers from 13 countries, seven sports innovation teams, and nearly 100 local sports practitioners. The Sports Administration (SA) promoted the first-ever World Masters Games 2025 in Taipei & New Taipei City (WMG 2025) and the 2026 Hualien International Children's Games (ICG) at the meeting. Taiwan’s ambassador-at-large, Sophiyah Liu, was also invited to attend the event for the first time to share her exemplary contributions to sports diplomacy, including her long-standing advocacy for women’s equality in sports, working alongside the U.S. State Department and the American Institute in Taiwan.
The Japanese side also placed significant emphasis on this event. Both the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games Organizing Committee and the World Masters Games 2027 Kansai Organizing Committee sent representatives to share the latest progress in preparations and enhance international promotion. The ASPN delegation also made a special visit to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, Bureau of Citizens, Culture and Sports, as well as the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics Organizing Committee, to learn about the Bureau's event development blueprint and the recent progress of the Tokyo 2025 Deaflympics, which will mark the 100th anniversary of the event and be held in Tokyo this November.
The 2025 APEC Sports Policy Network (ASPN) is sponsored by the SA and hosted by the IAPS (Center of Industry Accelerator and Patent Strategy of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University). Established in 2016 under the framework of the APEC Human Resources Development Working Group (HRDWG), it is now entering its 10th year. The initiative has received widespread support and recognition from sports officials across APEC economies, particularly the New Southbound Countries. Last year, it was included in the annual results declaration of the APEC HRDWG. This year, the APEC Secretariat also continued to send personnel to participate, showing the great importance it attaches to this project. This year, official representatives from 11 APEC economies participated, including the Australian Sports Commission, the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Indonesia), the Japan Sport Council, the Ministry of Youth and Sports (Malaysia), the Sports Authority of Thailand, the Sports Authority of Vietnam, and the SA from Taiwan.
The "2025 ASPN Roundtable Meeting & Forum" put emphasis to the cultivation of sports innovative talents and the application of sports technology in events. It hoped to drive the innovative growth of events through technology and use this to market Taiwan's brand events and let the world see Taiwan. This forum brought together seven sports innovation teams from six countries, including NeuinX and Fortune AI from Taiwan, Talnets AG from Switzerland, Providential Media Group from the United States, and Wave Company from South Korea. They hoped to use this chance for business opportunity matching to expand their international market.
Former Taiwan biathlon Olympian Lin Ting-Fang, now the Director of the Fun Sports in Taiwan Program and an executive member of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, joined the delegation to promote Taiwan's sports events to international representatives. He invited attendees to Taiwan for WMG 2025- the first to be held in Asia- emphasizing the opportunity to “compete against the world” while enjoying a diverse lineup of cultural, sports, and sightseeing activities in Taiwan. Representatives from Japan’s WMG 2027 Kansai Organizing Committee will also visit Taiwan to receive game flag and deliver a keynote at the 2025 Sport Event Taiwan (SET) Workshop Series Forum, held at the Ximen Red House in Taipei on May 14. Additionally, the SA introduced the 2026 Hualien ICG, encouraging cities across the Asia-Pacific region to form teams for participation. ICG was established in Europe and has been frequently hosted in European cities. Its mission is to foster international friendship and celebrate sports. This year, it will be held in Tallinn, Estonia, and 2026 will be held in Hualien, which presents a unique opportunity for local competitors to experience the event close to home.
Although the meeting and related visits were short, they were rich in content and achieved the purpose of exchange and promotion of Taiwan. We also look forward to continuing to interact with various economies through the ASPN platform and improve Taiwan’s ability to host sports events. Ultimately, we will use sports to let the world see Taiwan.
