The Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) yesterday apologized for evicting a group of fans who were waving a banner reading “Taiwan is not Chinese Taipei” ahead of a match between Taiwan and Japan at an under-18 international baseball tournament in Taichung on Wednesday.
A group of Providence University students, who were calling for the replacement of the term “Chinese Taipei,” were evicted from the game at the 11th Baseball Federation of Asia Under-18 Championship for holding what the association said was a political slogan.
Two association members tried to snatch the banner from the students and the students were escorted from the stadium soon afterward.
Photo: Chang Jui-chen, Taipei Times
After a video capturing the scuffle went viral on the Internet, Chinese Taipei Baseball Association secretary-general Lin Chung-cheng (林宗成) apologized for the actions of the association’s members following criticism from the city government, politicians and netizens.
Lin said according to International Olympic Committee (IOC) rules, political banners are banned from international sports competitions, but that the association would handle such a situation with more care in the future.
The association is to designate a “protest area” near the stadium entrance, but protests are not allowed inside the stadium, Lin said.
He called on the government to establish a standard reaction procedure, as the association has little experience in handling such incidents.
The Taichung City Government said the association enforced the rule too vociferously and that freedom of speech must be protected as long as it does not disrupt the game.
“The association has to compensate and apologize for the fans’ losses,” Taichung Information Bureau Director-General Cho Kuan-ting (卓冠廷) said, adding that the city government would deploy additional police officers at the stadium to protect the rights of fans.
“The city government will respect fans’ rights to hold national flags or slogans as long as they do not interfere with other people,” Chou said.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said the banner in question was not political, but merely an expression of an opinion.
“Whatever does not serve the interests of particular politicians or political parties should not be understood as political. Taiwan is a free country and it is unreasonable to enforce the IOC rules restrictively,” Huang said.
DPP Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅), who is a director of the association, said the term “Chinese Taipei” is a compromise that Taiwan has to accept to enter international sports competitions and dissatisfaction with the term is understandable.
“The slogan was nothing unusual, but the association’s overreaction saw it make the headlines,” Chang Liao said.
Sports Administration Director Lin Jer-hung (林哲宏) said the agency would set up a standard procedure to handle similar situations and prevent conflict.
Meanwhile, the students yesterday took their case to court, accusing two members of the association of unnecessary use of force and damage to property.
They said freedom of speech must be protected and reasserted their opinion that the nation should use “Taiwan” when participating in international sports competitions.
Lawyer Cheng Yi-ying (鄭懿瀛), who is helping the students, said the association’s ban on political banners is against freedom of speech and that the association would be censoring fans if it plans to define what slogans or objects are political.
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
Democracies must remain united in the face of a shifting geopolitical landscape, former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the Copenhagen Democracy Summit on Tuesday, while emphasizing the importance of Taiwan’s security to the world. “Taiwan’s security is essential to regional stability and to defending democratic values amid mounting authoritarianism,” Tsai said at the annual forum in the Danish capital. Noting a “new geopolitical landscape” in which global trade and security face “uncertainty and unpredictability,” Tsai said that democracies must remain united and be more committed to building up resilience together in the face of challenges. Resilience “allows us to absorb shocks, adapt under
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
RSS