After being disbanded 20 years ago, the Wei Chuan Dragons officially returned to the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) after a congress of representatives yesterday approved their re-entry.
The league made the announcement at a ceremony, which was attended by CPBL commissioner John Wu (吳志揚), Ting Hsin Hede Foundation founder Wei Ying-chung (魏應充) and Sports Administration Director-General Kao Chun-hsiung (高俊雄).
The Wei Chuan Dragons were one of the four founding teams when the league started in 1990, Wu said, adding that the league has seen teams come and go and changes in rules and regulations over the past 30 years.
Photo: CNA
Efforts over the past few years have paid off, as the league has succeeded in bringing back one of its founding teams, he said.
The league has had four competing teams for the past 10 years and many have been hoping that it would be expanded to accommodate more teams, he said.
However, the league has found it difficult to convince corporations to finance new teams, which cited economic concerns and a lack of transparency for new entrants to join the league, he said.
The league made public the rules for new entrants in 2017 and welcomed all interested parties, Wu added.
With Wei Chuan forming a fifth team, the league would incorporate them into its schedule after the league’s player draft on Monday next week, he said.
“We welcome any corporation interested in forming a sixth professional baseball team,” Wu said.
“My colleagues and I would explain the rules of entry in detail and assist them in formulating a viable plan to join the league,” he added.
The Dragons’ home base would be Yunlin County’s Douliou City (斗六), Wei said.
Kao said the CPBL is also in charge of organizing major international baseball tournaments and training players to compete in them following an agreement it signed on Jan. 30 with the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, with the aim of assembling the strongest national team possible.
The timing of the Dragons rejoining the CPBL could not be better, as the Sports Administration has helped revamp the facilities of 450 baseball fields or stadiums across the nation over the past five years, Kao said, adding that two new stadiums — one in Tainan and the other in Hsinchu — would soon be in use.
The Dragons won the CPBL championship in 1990, 1997, 1998 and 1999.
The club was disbanded in December 1999 after winning its third straight championship, as Ting Hsin International Group, which took over the management of Wei Chuan Group (味全集團), said it had no plans to finance a professional baseball team.
However, on April 29, Ting Hsin submitted a proposal for the Dragons to rejoin the league.
The move was widely seen as the group’s efforts to reshape its corporate image after its involvement in the tainted cooking oil scandal in 2013.
The league’s board of directors approved the team’s re-entry to the league on May 13.
Aside from paying franchising fees and other obligatory funds, the Dragons would begin by first playing in the minor league next year, but the club can still participate in the player draft session next week.
The team are to start playing in the major league in 2021.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday said that the Chinese Communist Party was planning and implementing “major” reforms, ahead of a political conclave that is expected to put economic recovery high on the agenda. Chinese policymakers have struggled to reignite growth since late 2022, when restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic were lifted. The world’s second-largest economy is beset by a debt crisis in the property sector, persistently low consumption and high unemployment among young people. Policymakers “are planning and implementing major measures to further deepen reform in a comprehensive manner,” Xi said in a speech at the Great Hall
CIVIL DEFENSE: More reservists in alternative service would help establish a sound civil defense system for use in wartime and during natural disasters, Kuma Academy’s CEO said While a total of 120,000 reservists are expected to be called up for alternative reserve drills this year, compared with the 6,505 drilled last year, the number has been revised to 58,000 due to a postponed training date, Deputy Minster of the Interior Ma Shih-yuan (馬士元) said. In principle, the ministry still aims to call up 120,000 reservists for alternative reserve drills next year, he said, but the actual number would not be decided later until after this year’s evaluation. The increase follows a Legislative Yuan request that the Ministry of the Interior address low recruitment rates, which it made while reviewing
DETERRENCE: Along with US$500 million in military aid and up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees, the bill would allocate US$400 million to countering PRC influence The US House of Representatives on Friday approved an appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025 that includes US$500 million in military aid for Taiwan. The legislation, which authorizes funding for the US Department of State, US foreign operations and related programs for next year, passed 212-200 in the Republican-led House. The bill stipulates that the US would provide no less than US$500 million in foreign military financing for Taiwan to enhance deterrence across the Taiwan Strait, and offer Taipei up to US$2 billion in loans and loan guarantees for the same purpose. The funding would be made available under the US’ Foreign Military
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,