Political commentator Cheng Hung-yi (鄭弘儀) on Monday criticized Fubon Braves head coach Yen Hsing-shu (顏行書) over a Facebook post.
On Saturday, a group of spectators attending the opening of the William Jones Cup in New Taipei City displayed a banner in Mandarin and English that read: “Taiwan. It’s not Chinese Taipei, it’s Taiwan!”
Referring to the sports arena on Facebook, Yen said the “clean, sacred ground ... had fallen.”
“Yen said that international exchanges in sports arenas have no borders and basketball fans caused the arena to fall by hanging up a banner,” Cheng said on Facebook. “I think he is brain damaged.”
“When competing abroad, our athletes are pressured by China to call themselves Chinese Taipei. Why can we not call our teams ‘Team Taiwan’ in our own nation?” Cheng said.
“If sports arenas are clean, sacred grounds, why did [President] Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) tear down Taiwan’s national flags during the women’s Asian Cup soccer games?” Cheng said, referring to an incident in 2001 when spectators were banned by Taipei police from waving the Republic of China flag in the stand.
Ma was Taipei mayor at the time.
“Everyone in Taiwan should know that we do not accept ‘Chinese Taipei.’ It is forced on us by international politics... In our own nation, we do not need to humiliate ourselves. Taiwan is Taiwan,” Cheng said.
Following criticism from netizens, Yen’s original post has since been removed and replaced with a new statement saying: “I am deeply disappointed that my personal, spontaneous comments have been distorted by certain media groups into misleading headlines.”
Yen said that he accepts “personal responsibility” for his remarks and that he is “sorry that people and organizations close to me have been negatively affected.”
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