The Presidential Office and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) will play a friendly softball game tomorrow in Taipei, marking the first time that the nation's top officials and the US' de facto embassy have engaged in an athletic competition.
"It is a purely friendly affair, which we proposed at a private gathering after the presidential election," said Presidential Office spokesman James Huang (
"Instead of having an indoor diplomatic event, we decided we would like to have a non-political get-together with our foreign friends," Huang said.
Saying that many officials from Western countries often exercise, or were even athletes once, Huang and other aides to President Chen Shui-bian (
"Since most members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government don't play golf, we decided on softball -- which is a variation on baseball, the national sport of both Taiwan and the US -- for our inaugural competition," Huang said.
"We organized a softball team last year and have been practicing since then.
"We are confident that victory will be ours. However, no one is betting on the game -- this is just a first stage of interaction between our two offices," Huang said.
Huang then said jokingly that "nothing related to affairs of state will be decided."
The Presidential Office's softball team last year played a game against a team of journalists and another against DPP legislators. Huang says that the team's record is "one win, one loss."
The Presidential Office team, led by Joseph Wu (
Other members of the team include Huang, who is said to be pretty fair with the bat; Liu Shih-chun (
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