Sports Affairs Council (SAC) officials met representatives of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association and Chinese Professional Baseball League yesterday, seeking ways to salvage the nation’s waning baseball reputation.
The meeting was launched after Taiwan’s dismal performance at the World Baseball Classic earlier this month, when Taiwan was eliminated from the competition following losses to South Korea and China.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) ordered the council to submit a plan on how to improve the nation’s baseball by the end of this month.
SAC Deputy Minister Chen Hsien-chung (陳顯宗) said in a telephone interview with the Taipei Times that several professors from the nation’s sports colleges attended the meeting, including Kao Ying-chieh (高英傑), former coach of New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming (王建民).
Chen said that representatives agreed to divide international games into different tiers. The World Baseball Classic or Asian Games, for example, would be classed as level-1 games and first-rate players would compete in these events.
They also agreed to establish ways for the three associations to better communicate. They also agreed to strive for a better showing in the upcoming Asian Games.
Chen, however, rebutted reports that the SAC would budget NT$300 million (US$10 million) to help baseball over the next four years, saying that a detailed plan would not be complete until the end of the month.
Chen said that funding would not only go to professional baseball, but also to baseball teams at the school level. The exact amount had not been determined, he said.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
Taiwan-based publisher Li Yanhe (李延賀) has been sentenced to three years in prison, fined 50,000 yuan (US$6,890) in personal assets and deprived political rights for one year for “inciting secession” in China, China's Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Chen Binhua (陳斌華) said today. The Shanghai First Intermediate People’s Court announced the verdict on Feb. 17, Chen said. The trial was conducted lawfully, and in an open and fair manner, he said, adding that the verdict has since come into legal effect. The defendant reportedly admitted guilt and would appeal within the statutory appeal period, he said, adding that the defendant and his family have
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS