Sports fans have renewed calls for Taiwan’s professional baseball league to change its name after foreign media mistakenly reported that the Fubon Guardians play in China.
In a report about the potential purchase of English Premier League soccer club Chelsea by a consortium that includes the Tsai (蔡) family of Fubon Financial Holding, CBS Sports reported in an article online that “Taiwan’s Tsai family is involved. They own the Taipei Fubon Braves basketball team, which plays in the ASEAN Basketball League, as well as the Fubon Guardians baseball team in China.”
The Guardians play in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), which apparently was the cause of the misreported information.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The Guardians’ home park is Sinjhuang Stadium in New Taipei City, while the Braves are the defending P.League+ champions. The Braves were previously in the Super Basketball League, although the ASEAN competition has not been held since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Fans of Taiwanese sports have asked that the name of the CPBL be changed, with suggestions including the replacement of “Chinese” with “Taiwan” or “Formosa” the most popular, while some proposed using “Chunghwa” (中華).
The consortium is seeking to buy Chelsea after the British government imposed economic sanction on Russian owner Roman Abramovich due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠) and Richard Tsai (蔡明興) are the main owners and proprietors of Fubon Financial Holding, which, including its subsidiaries, as of the end of last year had unaudited total assets of NT$10.51 trillion (US$359.19 billion), the second-highest among financial holding companies, the firm’s Web site said.
The Forbes list of Taiwan’s 50 richest people has Daniel Tsai and Richard Tsai third, with a combined net worth of US$7.9 billion.
The Chelsea bid also includes British businessman Martin Broughton, Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton and US tennis star Serena Williams, along with Canada’s Rogers family, which owns Rogers Communications-backed Major League Baseball team the Toronto Blue Jays.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central