Thousands of Taiwanese baseball fans made a defiant political statement at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) opener in Tokyo on Thursday, proudly displaying “Team Taiwan!” banners.
This challenged their official designation, “Chinese Taipei,” a name imposed by geopolitical tensions.
Taiwan competes in international sport as “Chinese Taipei” to avoid objections from China, which claims the democratically governed island. Taiwan’s government rejects these sovereignty claims.
Outside the Tokyo Dome, ‘fan activists’ in Taiwan’s flag colours led chants of ‘Go Taiwan!’ and ‘Team Taiwan!’.
Lin Tzu-hui, covered in flag stickers, explained: “Of course we hope to compete under the name Taiwan, so that in the future there will no longer be a ‘Chinese Taipei’ anymore — it will just be Taiwan.”
This public rejection is not new, following incidents like one at the 2024 Olympics where a spectator’s ‘Taiwan go for it!’ sign was snatched and torn by another fan at a badminton event, an act Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned as “crude and despicable.”
Baseball, introduced during Japanese rule, is hugely popular. The national team has played in all six WBC editions, winning the 2024 WBSC Premier12 – the second most prestigious international baseball tournament – by beating Japan.
48-year-old Wu Ji-Rung noted the growing national pride: “Since the pandemic, everyone has been using the name ‘Taiwan’ to bring people together.”
He added: “Especially after (the 2024 WBSC Premier12) games, I feel like they had a huge, huge impact on all of Taiwan. So that’s why everyone is so excited and so passionate, using the name ‘Taiwan’ to refer to our team, because we all feel very proud of Taiwan and proud to call ourselves Taiwanese.”
Despite the fervent support from the 40,523-strong crowd, Australia secured a 3-0 victory on Thursday.
Taiwan, however, remains in contention for the quarter-finals in the United States, with three more Pool C games ahead, including a crucial match against Japan on Friday.
Civil engineer Pan You-wen expressed optimism: “If we win three games, we can go. It doesn’t matter which three we win, but as long as we get three wins, we can quickly get to Miami.”
