NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom has taken to social media to urge Jeremy Lin (林書豪) to “stand with Taiwan” and stop taking “dirty Chinese Communist Party money.”
“Haven’t you had enough of that Dirty Chinese Communist Party money feeding you to stay silent?” Freedom wrote on Facebook and Twitter on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Boston Celtics center, who took a new surname when he became a US citizen on Monday last week, urged Lin: “Stand with Taiwan! Stop bowing to money & the Dictatorship.”
Photo: AP
Lin, a US citizen of Taiwanese descent who last year obtained a Taiwanese passport, has not responded to Freedom.
Lin is one of several foreign players, including a handful from Taiwan, who are on Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) rosters.
For Taiwanese players, it is an opportunity to compete at a higher level and earn more than what they could make in Taiwan.
For Lin, it is a chance to keep his career going. He led the Beijing Ducks to the playoffs in the 2019-2020 season. Lin then joined the US National Basketball Association’s (NBA) G League last season, hoping for another shot with an NBA team that never came.
On Tuesday last week, he resigned with the Beijing Ducks and is likely to start playing when the CBA season resumes later this month.
Lin rose to fame with the New York Knicks in 2012 when he became the first American of Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA and inspired the “Linsanity” craze.
The relationship between sports and China has been an especially thorny issue since Peng Shuai (彭帥), the former world No. 1 doubles tennis star, disappeared from public view for three weeks after early last month alleging on social media that a top Chinese official had sexually assaulted her.
Photographs and videos of Peng have since appeared in Chinese state media, and the International Olympic Committee has held two video calls with her.
However, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has decided to suspend its tournaments in China because of its treatment of Peng, saying it doubted that the tennis player was free and that “none of this is acceptable.”
Unlike the WTA, the men’s Association of Tennis Professionals has not suspended its China events, and the Winter Olympics look set to go ahead on Feb. 4, despite the US announcing a diplomatic boycott of the event.
Freedom, who has been outspoken against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whom he considers a dictator, has recently begun to criticize the Chinese government and its human rights abuses against Tibetans, Uighurs, and Hong Kongers.
Earlier this month, he took on NBA superstar LeBron James, saying that he was putting “money over morals” with regards to China.
James replied that Freedom was “definitely not someone I would give my energy to.”
US sports journalist Jemele Hill said in an article in The Atlantic that Freedom has also been delivering mixed messages.
When asked on Tucker Carlson Tonight if he was more grateful for his US citizenship than some of his teammates, Freedom said they should feel blessed and “should just keep their mouth shut and stop criticizing the greatest nation in the world,” and focus on their freedoms, human rights and democracy, Hill said.
SHIPS, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES: The ministry has announced changes to varied transportation industries taking effect soon, with a number of effects for passengers Beginning next month, the post office is canceling signature upon delivery and written inquiry services for international registered small packets in accordance with the new policy of the Universal Postal Union, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The new policy does not apply to packets that are to be delivered to China, the ministry said. Senders of international registered small packets would receive a NT$10 rebate on postage if the packets are sent from Jan. 1 to March 31, it added. The ministry said that three other policies are also scheduled to take effect next month. International cruise ship operators
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
The Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency yesterday launched a gift box to market honey “certified by a Formosan black bear” in appreciation of a beekeeper’s amicable interaction with a honey-thieving bear. Beekeeper Chih Ming-chen (池明鎮) in January inspected his bee farm in Hualien County’s Jhuosi Township (卓溪) and found that more than 20 beehives had been destroyed and many hives were eaten, with bear droppings and paw prints near the destroyed hives, the agency said. Chih returned to the farm to move the remaining beehives away that evening when he encountered a Formosan black bear only 20m away, the agency said. The bear
Chinese embassy staffers attempted to interrupt an award ceremony of an international tea competition in France when the organizer introduced Taiwan and displayed the Republic of China flag, a Taiwanese tea farmer said in an interview published today. Hsieh Chung-lin (謝忠霖), chief executive of Juxin Tea Factory from Taichung's Lishan (梨山) area, on Dec. 2 attended the Teas of the World International Contest held at the Peruvian embassy in Paris. Hsieh was awarded a special prize for his Huagang Snow Source Tea by the nonprofit Agency for the Valorization of Agricultural Products (AVPA). During the ceremony, two Chinese embassy staffers in attendance
RSS