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.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to