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.”
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS