Taiwan’s “Chinese Professional Baseball League” Should Change Its Name

During the COVID-19 pandemic, competitive athletics scrambled to continue operating while dealing with unsafe work environments. While the regions generally dominating the sports industry such as North America or Europe postponed or scaled back sports events, Taiwan has handled the pandemic so efficiently that sport league games continued as scheduled. With a cardboard cutout audience, Taiwan’s professional baseball league streamed league games remotely, capturing the attention of a dedicated worldwide audience.

Generally overlooked in world affairs, Taiwan has thus found a unique opportunity to promote itself following the COVID-19 pandemic. There is one problem: the league name. The name Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is understandably confusing for international audiences.

Taiwan is at a considerable disadvantage for asserting its own “brand” and attracting worldwide attention as long as the word “Chinese” remains in the names of Taiwanese institutions.

Why “Chinese” 

The CPBL is not the only Taiwanese institution to suffer from branding issues. The word “Chinese” in its name is a relic from the 20th Century, when Taiwan held itself to the world as “Free China.”

Taiwan was a colony of Imperial Japan until the end of World War II in 1945, when Taiwan was handed over to the Republic of China by the Allied forces. A few years later, the Republic of China, controlled by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), fled to Taiwan after being defeated by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the Chinese Civil War. The KMT re established its Republic of China regime in Taiwan, declared martial law, and aggressively promoted Chinese culture as the new standard. Mandarin became the only acceptable language in all areas of life, and opposition was not tolerated.

Taiwan’s rebranding as “Chinese” was intended to bolster the KMT’s claim that its Republic of China regime was still the sole legitimate government of all of China and the Communists’ People’s Republic of China was a rebel group. The KMT also believed that the Taiwanese had become too accustomed to Japanese culture during its colonial rule, and needed to be re-taught proper Chinese culture.

But as diplomatic currents shifted, the ability of the KMT to present itself as the legitimate Chinese government deteriorated. In 1971, the United Nations adopted Resolution 2758, which withdrew the recognition of the ROC representatives as the legitimate representatives of China, and recognized the PRC as the sole Chinese government to the United Nations, and in 1979 the United States switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Meanwhile, democratic reforms in Taiwan eventually led to the first ever direct presidential election in 1996. As the people of Taiwan had more of a voice in public affairs, there was a steady rise in a distinct Taiwanese identity separate from being “Chinese.”

As a result, there is increasing scrutiny over the names of institutions like state-owned enterprises, many of which carried the word “Chinese”–for example, Chunghwa (“Chinese”) Post, Chunghwa Telecom, China Airlines, and China Steel Corporation. A few companies have changed their names, such as Chinese Petroleum Corporation becoming CPC Corporation, and China Shipbuilding Corporation becoming CSBC Corporation.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC), known to the rest of the world as simply China, actively objects to any branding of Taiwan as separate and not Chinese. China has ramped up measures to minimize any reference to Taiwan as a separate country in international organizations and multinational corporations through use of their growing political and economic power. Taiwan was excluded from World Health Organization’s (WHO) round tables regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, despite its superb handling of the virus. The WHO has worked closely with the PRC, which allows the PRC to claim to represent Taiwan. The PRC has also pressured foreign governments to recognize its “One China Principle.” This has resulted in the vast majority of states not recognizing Taiwan as a country.

In the private sector, the PRC has also pushed companies that do business in China, such as airlines, hotel chains, and travel agencies, to list Taiwan as a province of China. Most companies comply sooner or later. The Marriott Hotel was banned from the internet in China for listing Taiwan as an independent nation; soon after the ban was enacted, Marriott formally apologized to the PRC and changed Taiwan’s status to a province of China. The effects of this attempted rebranding have been long lasting; many Taiwanese institutions are wary of changing their names, even as Taiwan is left to deal with the damage this causes to its reputation by the implied association with the PRC.

A case in point: Taiwan’s quick and prepared response to the current pandemic resulted in only eight deaths from the virus, and Taiwan took the opportunity to share its success with the world. By early May, Taiwan had already sent over 23 million masks and supplies of other protective gear to countries in need overseas under the slogan “Taiwan Can Help.” Unfortunately, the cargo planes delivering the masks to recipient foreign countries belonged to Taiwan’s national air carrier, called China Airlines. As the planes arrived, people could very easily assume that the helping hand was from China, not Taiwan, and, in doing so, they attributed Taiwan’s successes to Beijing.

Baseball and politics

In the world of international sports, Taiwan faces the same problems. Taiwan’s Olympic team is called “Chinese Taipei.” The KMT refused the name “Taiwan” because the KMT believed it was still the sole legitimate government of China. Although the decision for Taiwan to compete under “Chinese Taipei” was made before Taiwan adapted democracy, the team name has yet to be changed.  In 2018, Team Taiwan, a grassroots movement led by Taiwanese Olympic medalist Chi Cheng, put the name change to a popular referendum. After opponents of the referendum warned voters that a name change could potentially result in the International Olympic Committee Olympic banning Taiwan due to Chinese pressure, the proposal was voted down with a 55% majority. This is yet another example of the PRC using its political grip to corner Taiwan into the suppression of its nation’s identity.

Domestically, there have been efforts to change the CPBL’s name as well. Recently, Taiwan’s New Power Party (NPP) addressed the CPBL’s commissioner, John Wu, demanding a name change, which sparked viral support on social media for the proposed change. John Wu, who was a KMT politician prior to his election as the CPBL’s commissioner, denied the request on the basis that Taiwan’s “official title is the ‘Republic of China,’ so [the CPBL’s] name in Chinese does not cause any problems.”

But many Taiwanese would disagree with Commissioner Wu, and would argue that Taiwan’s ROC moniker itself is anachronistic. According to a study published in 2020 by the Taiwan Public Opinion Foundation, an overwhelming 83.2% of respondents self-identify as Taiwanese, while only 5.3% identified themselves as Chinese. The title of the CPBL may be suitable for the 5.3% of civilians, but it misrepresents the vast majority of Taiwan’s population.

The CPBL’s failure to rebrand squandered an important opportunity for Taiwan to assert its pride and accomplishments to a multi-million international audience. The MLB’s delay opening in late July created a three month long period where baseball fans across the globe directed their attention to the CPBL, which started streaming league games in mid April. The CPBL also streamed league games in English, amassing a large North American viewership base. At its peak, the CPBL attracted an audience of over seven million, with 60% of viewers watching from the US.

Yet, unless fans watching from outside Taiwan looked into the teams playing, they were under the misconception that these teams were all Chinese, not Taiwanese–something that was pointed out to Commissioner Wu by the AIT Director William Christensen. This misconception not only awards Taiwan’s success in combating COVID-19 to China, but it also misrepresents the Taiwanese athletes who play for their hometown teams. Worldwide viewers would be instantly more aware of Taiwan’s presence as an independent nation and of their dominance on the baseball diamond had the league’s name been the TPBL.

While fear of missing out on the Olympics stopped Taiwan from proposing a change for its Olympic team name, the CPBL is a domestic league. As such, there will be no international consequences if its name were changed to the Taiwanese Professional Baseball League.

As the dynamics of the current pandemic start to change and the CPBL’s 2020 season closes, Taiwan could do well to assert its identity through rebranding the Chinese-named entities which represent its nation. The postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics are on the horizon, presenting Taiwan with another opportunity to promote itself on a global scale. The public in Japan has shown its support to Taiwan’s rebranding; Japanese citizens have hosted protests for Taiwan to compete in the Olympics under its own name instead of the imposed “Chinese Taipei”, and the Diet passed a resolution in support of Taiwan’s inclusion in the World Health Assembly.

While the PRC continues to marginalize recognition of Taiwan in world affairs, the Taiwanese people’s own identity grows stronger. Beijing’s increased pressure on Taiwan has only caused Taiwan to pursue a stronger venture in global branding. Through effective branding, Taiwan can defend its identity from being usurped by Beijing. The CPBL should change its name, not just for the fair representation of its athletes, but also for the protection of Taiwan’s sovereignty.

I would like to express my sincere gratitude towards my teacher, Dr. Gerald Blaney, for not only introducing me to the issues in this article, but also for embarking on this literary journey alongside me, supporting my paper with patience, and his knowledge regarding the subject at hand.

(Feature photo of President Tsai Ing-wen from 2016, from Taiwan Presidential Office, CC BY 2.0)