The Presidential Office yesterday denied opposition party accusations of stealing the opportunity to throw the first ball in a series of upcoming Taiwan-Japan baseball exhibition matches and urged all politicians to be happy baseball fans instead of bringing political struggles into sport.
"The Presidential Office has neither been informed of nor invited to attend the first baseball game," Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (
"As you all know, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) often goes to watch baseball games and sits in the stadium from the beginning to the end of the games," Huang said.
"The president is a very happy baseball fan," he said, "and he has never asked to serve as the guest of honor to pitch the first ball; he is not doing it now and he won't do it in the future."
Lawmakers of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and People First Party (PFP) alleged recently that it was their parties that invited the Japanese professional baseball team, the Daiei Hawks, to play friendly games against Taiwan's players in November. However, the DPP government pressured the (ROC) Amateur Baseball Association into allowing President Chen to pitch the first ball, they alleged.
Huang said yesterday that the president last year received the manager of Daiei Hawks, Sadaharu Oh, at the Presidential Office when Oh brought his team to play a game in Taiwan.
"If the president wanted to pitch the first ball, he would have done so last year," Huang said.
He said the president hopes all politicians will enjoy the baseball games but should not involve the sport with politics, which may only hamper baseball development in Taiwan.
"Show sincerity in loving the baseball game," Chen said, according to Huang, "do not use the game to further political struggles."
According to the Amateur Baseball Association, the pan-blue alliance spent NT$40 million to realize the Daiei Hawks' visit. PFP Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) visited Japan last year and pitched the first ball at a Daiei Hawks home game in Fukuoka.
Pan-blue alliance members have expressed the opinion that the two opposition party chairmen, Soong and the KMT's Lien Chan (連戰), should share the same honor at the local games in November.
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