A US congressman has blasted Major League Baseball (MLB) for requiring Taiwan to use the name "Chinese Taipei" when it takes part in the upcoming World Baseball Classic.
Representative Tom Tancredo, a Colorado Republican, sent an open letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig describing his disappointment over the decision to bow to pressure from China.
Pressure
"For more than 20 years, because of pressure from the People's Republic of China, athletes from Republic of China (Taiwan) have been forced to compete under the name `Chinese Taipei' in the Olympic Games even though Taiwan is not subject to the control of the unelected government in Beijing," Tancredo wrote.
"Major League Baseball and the World Baseball Classic should not follow the example of the International Olympic Committee by acting as an accomplice in Communist China's illogical and obsessive effort to restrict the freedom and insult the dignity of the 23 million people who live in Taiwan," the congressman wrote.
Unlike the World Series, essentially a US affair, the World Baseball Classic will be the first truly international baseball competition. The Classic is a "16-team tournament sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation [that] will feature the world's best players competing for their home countries and territories for the first time," according to the official Web site.
The tournament begins on March 3, when Taiwan faces South Korea at the Tokyo Dome in Japan.
"It is unfair and inappropriate to treat Taiwan[ese] citizens this way and it is an indignity to ROC athletes who work just as hard as Cuban athletes, for example -- athletes whose full participation you worked quite diligently to ensure," Tancredo wrote.
Controversy
The congressman was referring to an earlier controversy, in which the US government reportedly intended to use archaic Cold-War era anti-communist regulations to ban the Cuban baseball team from participating in the tournament. After intense lobbying by baseball fans, the Cuban team will be allowed to compete.
Representatives from Major League Baseball were unavailable for comment as of press time.
Several Taiwanese baseball players are members of major league teams in the US, and "as many as 10 players currently tied to Major League organizations" could play for Taiwan's team during the tournament.
The Colorado Rockies -- the home team for the district Tancredo represents -- has two players from Taiwan. Both are pitchers: Tsao Chin-hui (
"MLB should promote fair play -- which, in the end, is truly what our national pastime is all about," Tancredo's letter said.
Rain is to increase from Wednesday morning as Severe Tropical Storm Kong-Rey approaches, with sea warnings to be issued as early as tomorrow afternoon, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. As of 8am, Kong-Rey was 1,050km east-southeast of the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春) heading in a northwesterly direction toward Taiwan, CWA Forecast Center Director Lin Po-tung (林伯東) said. Rainfall is to increase from Wednesday morning, especially in northern Taiwan and Yilan County, he said. A sea warning is possible from tomorrow afternoon, while a land warning may be issued on Wednesday morning, he added. Kong-Rey may intensify into a moderate typhoon as it passes
Hong Kong singer Andy Lau’s (劉德華) concert in Taipei tonight has been cancelled due to Typhoon Kong-rei and is to be held at noon on Saturday instead, the concert organizer SuperDome said in a statement this afternoon. Tonight’s concert at Taipei Arena was to be the first of four consecutive nightly performances by Lau in Taipei, but it was called off at the request of Taipei Metro, the operator of the venue, due to the weather, said the organizer. Taipei Metro said the concert was cancelled out of consideration for the audience’s safety. The decision disappointed a number of Lau’s fans who had
Taiwan yesterday issued warnings to four Chinese coast guard vessels that intruded into restricted waters around the Taiwan-controlled Kinmen Islands, according to the Coast Guard Administration (CGA). The four China Coast Guard ships were detected approaching restricted waters south of Kinmen at around 2 pm yesterday, the CGA’s Kinmen-Matsu Branch said in a statement. The CGA said it immediately deployed four patrol boats to closely monitor the situation. When the Chinese ships with the hull numbers "14512," "14609," "14603" and "14602" separately entered the restricted waters off Fuhsing islet (復興嶼), Zhaishan (翟山), Sinhu (新湖) and Liaoluo (料羅) at 3 pm, the Taiwanese patrol
MUCH-NEEDED: After China demonstrated its capabilities to deploy vertical launching systems, Taiwan needs air defense systems such as NASAMS, a defense expert said The US’ approval of exports of three advanced air defense missile systems to Taiwan signified NATO’s goodwill toward the nation, a Taiwanese defense expert said. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency on Friday announced the US$1.16 billion sale of the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) and the US$828 million sale of AN/TPS-77 and AN/TPS-78 radar turnkey systems. The NASAMS is a network that uses ground-launched Air Intercept Missile (AIM)-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles (AMRAAM) to intercept hostile aircraft, drones and cruise missiles. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), director of defense strategy and resources at the state-funded Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said
RSS