Thousands of Taiwanese fans yesterday descended on the Tokyo Dome for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) opener, displaying banners proclaiming “Team Taiwan” as opposed to their official designation in the tournament, Chinese Taipei.
Taiwan has long competed in international sport as “Chinese Taipei” to avoid objections from China.
Outside the Tokyo Dome, self-described “fan activists” clad in the red, white and blue of Taiwan’s flag led chants of “Go Taiwan” in Mandarin and “Team Taiwan” in English.
Photo: Reuters
“Of course we hope to compete under the name Taiwan, so that in the future there will no longer be a ‘Chinese Taipei’ anymore — it will just be Taiwan,” said Lin Tzu-hui, who was covered head to toe in stickers of the Taiwan flag.
Yu Hsueh-chih mobilized fans to make 4,000 flags for distribution at the Tokyo Dome, offering one to anyone who shouted: “Go Taiwan.”
The flags were quickly snapped up, Yu said.
This is not the first incident of fans rejecting the Chinese Taipei designation in the past few years and follows a couple of high-profile incidents at the 2024 Olympics, when a spectator holding up a sign reading “Taiwan go for it” had it snatched away and ripped up by another fan at the badminton competition. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs called the act “crude and despicable.”
Taiwan have competed in all six editions of the WBC and in 2024 won the World Baseball Softball Confederation Premier12 — the second-most prestigious international baseball tournament — by beating Japan in the final.
“Since the [COVID-19] pandemic, everyone has been using the name ‘Taiwan’ to bring people together,” 48-year-old Wu Ji-Rung said. “Especially after [the 2024 Premier12] games, I feel like they had a huge, huge impact on all of Taiwan. So that’s why everyone is so excited and so passionate, using the name ‘Taiwan’ to refer to our team, because we all feel very proud of Taiwan and proud to call ourselves Taiwanese.”
Nobu, a Taiwan supporter living in Japan had been following the team since its warm-up games in Miyazaki Prefecture and brought along a handmade sign he used to cheer for Taiwan during the 2024 Premier12, which Taiwan won.
He said he hopes it would bring the team the same luck as last time.
Unfortunately for Wu and his compatriots in the crowd of 40,523 yesterday, Australia ran out 3-0 winners.
Taiwan still have another three games to play in Pool C, including a clash with Japan today, as they bid to reach the quarter-finals in the US.
“If we win three games, we can go,” civil engineer Pan You-wen said. “It doesn’t matter which three we win, but as long as we get three wins, we can quickly get to Miami.”
Additional reporting by CNA
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