Taiwan’s team for the Beijing Winter Olympics will be at the opening and closing ceremonies after being told by the International Olympic Committee it was required to participate. Chinese-claimed Taiwan has feared Beijing could “downgrade” Taiwan’s status by putting its athletes alongside those from Chinese-run Hong Kong at the opening ceremony, a senior Taiwan official familiar with the matter told Reuters last week. Sub-tropical Taiwan, which has no winter sporting tradition and has never won a medal at the winter Games, is sending four athletes to Beijing, the same number as the last winter…