China’s recruitment of Taiwanese baseball coaches is part of its “united front” tactics, sources said on Sunday.
In a 40-minute video released on Friday, Taiwanese YouTuber “Pa Chiung (八炯)” interviewed Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳伯源), who spoke about China’s “united front” efforts, saying that he had received guidance for producing content that served Beijing’s political agenda from China’s United Front Work Department while working in China.
In the video, an official from the department affiliated with China’s Wuyishan City Government said the department had attracted a B-class Taiwanese baseball coach to work in Nanping City.
Photo: screen grab from China Central Television
“He began working as a coach at a young age and did not finish college, but did not secure a satisfying job in Taiwan,” and accepted the agency’s job offer, the official told Chen over the phone in the video.
China has long devoted its “united front” efforts targeting sports, source said speaking on condition of anonymity.
For example, Taiwanese young baseball players were invited to the Fifth Cross-strait Youth Baseball Culture Festival held in China’s Fujian Province in August, they said, adding that at the festival, they met with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤), who gave a speech on the “one China” principle and the “1992 consensus” and told the young players that China is their “home.”
Chinese “united front” work authorities also invited Taiwanese baseball coaches to visit China and in one case, a former Chinese Professional Baseball League coach, after returning to Taiwan, hung slogans at baseball matches in local communities saying: “Both sides of the Strait are one family,” the source said.
Some Taiwanese baseball players involved in illegal betting began a new career in China, as they could no longer be accepted by local baseball teams and broader society, they said.
With the focus of “united front” efforts shifting to young people over the past few years, China began inviting youth baseball teams to visit China for so-called “cross-strait exchanges,” they said.
Asked for comment, Taiwan Association of University Professors chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said the involvement of “united front” work agencies in recruiting baseball coaches from Taiwan clearly has a political purpose.
China mainly recruited baseball coaches who had not found a good career in Taiwan rather than players, because the standard is much higher in Taiwan, and good players would either stay in Taiwan, or go to US or Japan.
China’s “united front” efforts are aimed at baseball, because it is Taiwan’s national sport, especially after Taiwan won the championship in the WBSC Premier12 this year, Chen said.
Taiwan’s national identity could be torn apart, with some Taiwanese bribed to function as endorsers saying that China is their “homeland,” or that Taiwan is part of China, he said.
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS