US basketball legend Michael Jordan flew into Taiwan from Hong Kong yesterday evening to promote his name-brand line of sportswear.
The NBA's five-time Most Valuable Player is swinging through Asia this month and will stay in Taipei for less than 24 hours. He will be leaving at 4pm today for Tokyo, the last stop on his four-leg tour.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Long before his NT$2.5 billion private jet touched down at 6:30pm yesterday, thousands of crazed fans wearing Jordan trainers and jerseys with placards and banners in hand had swarmed into the Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, jostling for the best place from which to see.
Loud cheers of "lanqiu dadi [
Though enthusiastic fans seemed to have no chance of getting close to Jordan, the former Chicago Bulls star waved with a big smile to the shouting and screaming fans, apparently in a relaxed mood, before getting into a limousine heading toward the five-star hotel in which he will stay.
Outside the hotel a young fan said he had been waiting for his idol for six hours.
"He is the god," said Howard Kuo (
Wearing a red basketball T-shirt with a large number 23 on the front and white Jordan-brand athletic shoes, Kuo said he and his friends pooled money to book two rooms in the Grand Formosa Regent Taipei, where Jordan stayed last night.
"We just want to be in the same place with him," he said.
As Jordan's limousine moved closer and closer to downtown Taipei, the crowd gathering outside Grand Formosa grew agitated.
Asked what they would say if the famous NBA player happened to toss a gaze at them, university student Eric Chung (
"There is only one Jordan. He's irreplaceable," another shouted.
This afternoon, Jordan is scheduled to hold a press conference in the hotel, attend an exhibition of sports wear and meet with 700 lucky fans in Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall II.
Two hundred of the lucky fans were chosen by Nike Taiwan in an online contest in which they had to write down their feelings about the basketball megastar, while the other 500 won the tickets in a lucky draw held by the same company.
Some tickets were auctioned online, however, with prices ranging from NT$7,000 to NT$20,000 each.
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2