Activists yesterday protested outside the Taipei Dome urging officials to stop using “Chinese Taipei” to represent the country in international competitions, before Taiwan last night played South Korea at the stadium in the Group B opening round of the World Baseball Softball Confederation’s (WBSC) Premier12 tournament.
The protests come as staff and players from international teams as well as foreign reporters complained of absent translations and poor time controls at a disorganized news conference in Taipei on Tuesday.
Taiwan Republic Office members and other campaigners protested yesterday afternoon as fans began to stream into the Taipei Dome for the evening game, which Taiwan won 6-3.
Photo courtesy of the Taiwan Republic Office
Taiwan Republic Office director Chilly Chen (陳峻涵) criticized sports officials and the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association (CTBA) for continuing to use “Chinese Taipei” instead of Taiwan, a change he said advocates and political groups have for years called for without meaningful progress.
“We are known as Taiwan in the international community, and most people in the international community know our national team as Taiwan,” Chen said. “The ‘Chinese Taipei’ name must be changed, because it is wrong and misleading. It makes people think we are not ‘Taiwanese,’ while the term ‘Chinese’ confuses people that we are part of China.”
He urged President William Lai (賴清德) to start the process of changing the Constitution to use the name Taiwan and demanded that the CTBA and other sports bodies “respect the wishes of the majority to call ourselves ‘Taiwan.’”
Meanwhile, local reporters, and those from South Korea and other countries, complained about Tuesday’s news conference presenting the Premier12 teams and players.
News reports said the CTBA did not provide enough translators and only had brief translations in Mandarin Chinese and English during the main introduction session, with no translation provided in Japanese, Korean or Spanish, leaving reporters in the dark about what was said.
“I have no idea why I came here; for what?” South Korea manager Ryu Joong-il (柳仲逸) was quoted as saying.
Reports said that when Cuban and Dominican players and coaches spoke in Spanish, they were only translated to Mandarin Chinese.
They also complained about having to wait more than 40 minutes due to delays by CTBA and WBSC officials and long addresses from people prior to the news conference.
South Korean players and coaches were forced to stand as there were not enough chairs, the reports said.
South Korean players also said that when they practiced in the Taipei Dome on Tuesday, a child was running on the field unsupervised, the reports said.
CTBA later issued an apology, saying the child was brought by an association staff member, they said.
In other Group B games, the Dominican Republic beat Cuba 6-1 at the Taipei Tianmu Baseball Stadium, while Japan dominated Australia 9-3 at the Vantelin Dome Nagoya in Japan.
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