Deputy Legislative Speaker Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌), who is to takeover as head of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), on Thursday said he would add a sixth team to the league.
Tsai made the remarks after he was tapped to head the organization when CPBL commissioner John Wu (吳志揚) finishes his second term next month.
Tsai’s position was confirmed on Thursday when top executives of the CPBL’s five teams met with Tsai at his office at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei, later emerging with smiles after reaching an agreement for him to take the post.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
It comes with no salary, and is largely a ceremonial position. As commissioner, Tsai would be responsible for league operations, attending international meetings, planning and overseeing staff’s day-to-day work.
Tsai outlined his vision for the league, saying that finding corporate backers to start a sixth team was a top priority.
The CPBL is comprised of the Uni-President Lions, CTBC Brothers, Fubon Guardians and Rakuten Monkeys, with the Wei Chuan Dragons set to join next season.
The Dragons, started in 1989, were one of the four founding teams in the league before they disbanded in 1999.
“All five clubs and Taiwan fans are in full support of the league expanding to a sixth team, which could join in the coming years,” Tsai said. “Then the CPBL can grow more vigorously, and have different combinations for game matchups.”
However, Tsai said he knows it would not be easy.
“The CPBL in the past decade has operated with four teams, and waited a long time to welcome the Wei Chuan Dragons back. It can be difficult to find a big corporation in Taiwan willing to invest in pro baseball, as its executives must have a passion for the game, and deep pockets to sustain a team,” he said.
A Democratic Progressive Party legislator with his base in Taichung, Tsai yesterday received hopeful news from his fellow party member and Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), who confirmed speculation that several Kaohsiung-based businesses were showing interest in sponsoring a team to enter the league in the next few years.
“We have a large manufacturing base in Kaohsiung, with large companies for financial support, and can look for other businesses to participate in a team’s launch with sponsorship. We will take it one step at a time, but the talk of getting back to pro baseball has been a hot discussion in our city for some time,” Chen said.
SELF-RELIANCE: Taiwan would struggle to receive aid in the event of an invasion, so it must prepare to ‘hold its own’ for the first 70 days of a war, a defense expert said Taiwan should strengthen infrastructure, stock up on reserves and step up efforts to encourage Taiwanese to fight against an enemy, legislators and experts said on Tuesday last week. The comments sought to summarize what the nation should learn from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has exceeded 300 days, since Feb. 24 last year. Institute of National Defense and Security Research fellow Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲) said that the war in Ukraine highlighted the importance of being ready for war. Taiwan’s development of an “asymmetrical warfare” doctrine and extending mandatory conscription to one year is a good start to preparation of defense against a
The Central Epidemic Command Center yesterday said it would delay the lifting of the indoor mask mandate, citing public health considerations and ongoing discussions on how the policy should be implemented. Earlier this week, Centers for Disease Control Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥), who is the CECC’s spokesman, said officials from several ministries were working on the policy and an announcement would be made yesterday. However, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝), who heads the CECC, yesterday said that the policy was still under review. Wang said its implementation would be “delayed slightly” due to three main factors. First, the center
END OF SERIES: As the first generation of Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are set to expire, the CECC would no longer offer them to children younger than four years old The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported the nation’s first case of a person infected with the Omicron XBB.1.5 subvariant of SARS-CoV-2. The Taiwanese man in his 20s arrived from Canada on Jan. 22, said Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Deputy Director-General Philip Lo (羅一鈞), who is deputy head of the CECC’s medical response division. He tested positive after reporting having a runny nose and muscle soreness while in airport quarantine, Lo said. The XBB.1.5 subvariant is the dominant strain in the US, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes more severe illness than other Omicron subvariants, he said,
NORMALIZING TIES: The delegation led by the KMT’s Johnny Chiang is to meet with British lawmakers, think tanks and business groups to discuss developments A legislative delegation led by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) arrived in the UK yesterday to rally support for Taiwan’s bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). Chiang heads the Legislative Yuan’s Taiwan-UK Interparliamentary Amity Association. The delegation also includes KMT legislators Ma Wen-chun (馬文君), Wen Yu-hsia (溫玉霞), Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), Sandy Yu (游毓蘭) and Wu I-ding (吳怡玎). The group is to meet with British lawmakers Alicia Kearns, who chairs the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee; Tobias Ellwood, who chairs the House Defence Select Committee; and Bob Stewart, who cochairs the