Baseball-'Team Taiwan!': fans make a statement ahead of WBC opener

By Joseph Campbell

TOKYO, March 5 (Reuters) - Thousands of Taiwanese fans descended on the Tokyo Dome for the World Baseball Classic (WBC) opener on Thursday displaying banners proclaiming "Team Taiwan!" as opposed to their official designation in the tournament, Chinese Taipei.

Taiwan has long competed in international sport as "Chinese Taipei" to avoid objections from China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory. Taiwan's government rejects Chinese sovereignty claims.

On Thursday outside the Tokyo Dome, self-described "fan activists" clad in the red, white and blue of the island's flag led chants of "Go Taiwan!" in Mandarin and "Team Taiwan!" in English.

"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," explained Lin Tzu-hui, who was covered head to toe in stickers of the Taiwan flag.

This is not the first incident of fans rejecting the Chinese Taipei designation in recent years and follows a couple of high-profile incidents at the 2024 Olympics.

A spectator holding up a sign reading "Taiwan go for it!" had it snatched away and ripped up by another fan at the badminton competition in Paris, an act condemned as "crude and despicable" by Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Baseball was introduced to Taiwan in the late 19th century when the island was under Japanese rule and has become a hugely popular sport on the island.

Taiwan have competed in all six editions of the WBC and in 2024 won the WBSC Premier12 - the second most prestigious international baseball tournament - by beating Japan in the final.

"Since the pandemic, everyone has been using the name 'Taiwan' to bring people together," said 48-year-old Wu Ji-Rung.

"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."

Unfortunately for Wu and his compatriots in the crowd of 40,523 on Thursday, Australia ran out 3-0 winners.

Taiwan still have another three games to play in Pool C, including a clash with Japan on Friday, as they bid to reach the quarter-finals in the United States.

"If we win three games, we can go," said civil engineer Pan You-wen. "It doesn't matter which three we win, but as long as we get three wins, we can quickly get to Miami."