In really traditional Taiji, a person is not allowed to start the 2-hand engagement called "push hands" for a number of years. The idea is that until you have trained your body to have the qi and jin skills, competition will only serve to keep you in the normal-muscle mode. If you look at most western "push hands", it's easy to see that it's mostly disguised wrestling and a little judo at best. Few westerners ever develop qi and jin skills, just like few westerners in Aikido, karate, etc., ever developed ki and kokyu skills. Competition is a no-no for that reason. I wonder if that might not also have been part of Ueshiba's reasoning?

FWIW

Mike Sigman