As the public celebrated the national baseball team’s advance to the second round of this year’s World Baseball Classic in Tokyo after cheering with one heart the team’s battle with South Korea on Tuesday evening, many could not help but be confused over why a number of TV anchors and Taiwanese fans rooted for the team by calling it “Chinese Taipei.”
Granted, it may be a necessary concession to refer to Taiwan officially as “Chinese Taipei” in international sport, in line with the protocol it signed with the International Olympic Committee, but why degrade one’s own country on its home turf with such a demeaning — and geographically incorrect — name?
Even as members of the public undermined their nation’s image in this way from the bleachers, some international media outlets treated it with respect by properly addressing it as “Taiwan” in their coverage.
One may recall that when pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民) was playing for the New York Yankees and reliever Kuo Hong-chih (郭泓志) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, they were both introduced by their teams as hailing from Taiwan, not “Chinese Taipei.”
When top-ranked female golfer Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) made it into Time’s list of the 100 most influential figures last year for her athletic achievements and work ethic, she was also introduced as coming from Taiwan, not “Chinese Taipei.”
In April last year, while being interviewed by Taiwanese press about the performance of Taiwanese pitcher Chen Wei-yin (陳偉殷), Orioles manager Buck Showalter also appeared to have a clearer grasp of Taiwan’s stance than some Taiwanese when he said: “Stop calling [Taiwan] ‘Chinese Taipei.’ I have done my homework, Taiwan is Taiwan, it has nothing to do with China. Please don’t confuse me with ‘Chinese Taipei.’”
Some may dismiss the name issue as trivial and accuse those bringing up the matter of spoiling the mood and attempting to incite political wrangles. However, that is exactly the sort of silence and passivity we should beware of, because China is counting on exactly that reaction in its pursuit of unification, all the while belittling Taiwan.
Beijing’s efforts to diminish Taiwan internationally are no secret. It has employed many tactics — openly and clandestinely — to shape a global impression that downgrades Taiwan’s sovereignty through the use of language.
The seemingly harmless practice of calling Taiwan “Chinese Taipei” is slowly creeping in and transforming the Taiwanese public’s national identity, as evidenced by more Taiwanese fans cheering for the nation’s athletes by calling them “Chinese Taipei” rather than “Taiwan.”
Some may recall that President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), while seeking re-election, named his campaign headquarters “Taiwan Cheers, Great! (台灣加油,讚!)” and formed a legion of campaign groups called “Taiwan cheer teams (台灣加油隊).”
As Taiwan’s national baseball team, bearing the public’s best wishes and high expectations, left for Tokyo yesterday, one hopes Ma, as the head of the state, will lead fans in cheering for Taiwan’s team in line with his former campaign slogan — “Taiwan Cheers, Great!” — and not the demeaning name “Chinese Taipei.”
Or is that too much to ask?
US President Donald Trump has gotten off to a head-spinning start in his foreign policy. He has pressured Denmark to cede Greenland to the United States, threatened to take over the Panama Canal, urged Canada to become the 51st US state, unilaterally renamed the Gulf of Mexico to “the Gulf of America” and announced plans for the United States to annex and administer Gaza. He has imposed and then suspended 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico for their roles in the flow of fentanyl into the United States, while at the same time increasing tariffs on China by 10
With the manipulations of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), it is no surprise that this year’s budget plan would make government operations difficult. The KMT and the TPP passing malicious legislation in the past year has caused public ire to accumulate, with the pressure about to erupt like a volcano. Civic groups have successively backed recall petition drives and public consensus has reached a fever-pitch, with no let up during the long Lunar New Year holiday. The ire has even breached the mindsets of former staunch KMT and TPP supporters. Most Taiwanese have vowed to use
As an American living in Taiwan, I have to confess how impressed I have been over the years by the Chinese Communist Party’s wholehearted embrace of high-speed rail and electric vehicles, and this at a time when my own democratic country has chosen a leader openly committed to doing everything in his power to put obstacles in the way of sustainable energy across the board — and democracy to boot. It really does make me wonder: “Are those of us right who hold that democracy is the right way to go?” Has Taiwan made the wrong choice? Many in China obviously
About 6.1 million couples tied the knot last year, down from 7.28 million in 2023 — a drop of more than 20 percent, data from the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs showed. That is more serious than the precipitous drop of 12.2 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. As the saying goes, a single leaf reveals an entire autumn. The decline in marriages reveals problems in China’s economic development, painting a dismal picture of the nation’s future. A giant question mark hangs over economic data that Beijing releases due to a lack of clarity, freedom of the press