Premier Su Tseng-chang (
"Initially, we will be considering encouraging local enterprises to sponsor or own professional baseball teams with tax breaks. In addition, we are also considering having a sports lottery," said Su when approached by reporters for comment yesterday.
Su was referring to the rumor that the La New Bears, which won this year's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) championship, will be sold off because of financial difficulties.
The CPBL has been suffering from severe financial problems for years.
During the 17 seasons since the CPBL's inception, four teams have been either dissolved or sold to other owners because of funding issues.
Currently, six teams are still surviving but none of them is making a profit and only two have survived all 17 seasons.
Although approximately NT$80 million (US$2.4 million) was lost this season, Liu Pao-yu (劉保佑), the owner of the La New Bears, said he would not abandon the team.
Liu issued a press release on Friday and explained that some earlier comments he had made were misinterpreted by the public to suggest that he intended to sell the team. He emphasized that he has no intention of doing so but he would welcome "all kinds of financial support or cooperation" to maintain the team.
Su said baseball is one of the most popular sports in Taiwan, and that more and more people are becoming interested in it because of New York Yankee pitcher Wang Chien-ming (
Wang is a role model for Taiwanese, Su said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial
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