Taiwan Beer, one of seven teams in the nation’s professional Super Basketball League (SBL), dismissed media reports that it has applied to join the Chinese professional league next year.
Taiwan Beer said in a news release that whether it will go to China would be decided only after a full discussion, adding that the team will “only do so after applying to the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association [CTBA] and the Sports Affairs Council and receiving a green light from them.”
The Chinese-language United Evening News reported on Thursday that Taiwan Beer had submitted an application to join the 17-team Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) after finishing this year in Taiwan.
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), which is in charge of Taiwan’s China policy, said it checked with the CTBA and learned that the report was false, according to MAC Vice Chairman Liu Te-shun (劉德勳).
However, a MAC official said that Taiwan Beer players did previously get approval to play in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA).
As the government is the majority shareholder of the team’s parent company, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp, the situation could be even more complex, the official said.
In 2002, Sina Lions became the first Taiwanese basketball team to join the CBA. It chose Suzhou in Jiangsu Province as its home city and played in the league for two years before returning to Taiwan in 2003.
A number of Taiwanese players, most notably Taiwanese national team stars Chen Hsin-an (陳信安) and Lin Chih-jeh (林志傑), have signed with CBA teams in recent years, lured by higher salaries.
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