Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsu Chih-chieh (許智傑) yesterday joined calls for renaming the nation’s baseball league — the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) — a day after league officials said that American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Brent Christensen recommended adding “Taiwan” to the league’s name in international materials so that foreigners know it is not from China.
“Sports competitions in almost all countries have been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Hsu said. “Now, Taiwanese baseball is the first to start its season and play at ballparks with fans, which has attracted considerable attention from fans worldwide.”
Adding more Taiwanese elements to broadcasts of CPBL games would be good, as well as changing the name, so people know it is a professional baseball league in Taiwan, he said, adding that doing so would make the nation even more visible on the international stage.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The issue came to the forefront after the media reported that Christensen separately talked with league commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) about the possibility of changing the league’s name.
The CPBL on Saturday evening responded with a statement, saying that Christensen invited Wu to meet on April 24 and that, according to the AIT, Americans have greatly enjoyed the English-language CPBL broadcasts and hope that they can continue.
“The AIT respects the league’s name, which has been in use for 31 years, but said that some foreign fans are confused and have identified the league as coming from China. The AIT suggested adding ‘Taiwan’ to promotional material used internationally to ensure that people know it is Taiwan’s professional baseball league,” the statement said.
Hsu, other DPP legislators, New Power Party (NPP) legislators and activist organizations have echoed the sentiment of many Taiwanese fans that the league’s name include “Taiwan.”
The NPP yesterday condemned the league’s response, saying that the “statement from the CPBL did not take a position on the AIT’s recommendation.”
“Let’s push to rectify the name of Taiwan’s baseball league. It is not so difficult to bolster and enlarge Taiwan [on the international stage],” the NPP said, citing the results of its April 24 poll, in which 62.3 percent of respondents supported changing the “Chinese” in “Chinese Professional Baseball League” to “Taiwan.”
“To deflect calls for a name change, the CPBL keeps stressing that it is a semi-private organization, but it has received considerable financial support from the government and the public over many years,” the NPP said. “It cannot simply hide behind the ‘private organization’ label, but has a responsibility to answer public calls to rectify the name of Taiwan’s professional baseball league.”
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