时论广场》纽约棒球场上自嗨的台湾日（方恩格）

今年3月初，乐天女孩被宣布将成为大都会台湾职棒啦啦队并在台湾日的表演团体。图为「乐天女孩」曾为天使队「台湾日」与大谷翔平合影资料照片。（乐天桃猿提供）

纽约大都会棒球队将于8月27日举办第18届的「台湾日」活动。而在4天后的9月1日，大都会则将举办年度的「中华文化之夜」。

正如笔者一年前在《中国时报》所写的，只要此球队继续举办中华文化之夜，台湾就不应该合办台湾日活动。去年，大都会的中华文化之夜于8月6日举行，而台湾日则是在8月28日。这两个活动均发生于时任美国众议院议长裴洛西访问台湾，以及随之而来的大规模解放军军事演习之后。

今年，纽约大都会的台湾日活动将在年度的中华文化之夜之前举行。中华文化之夜是一个类似的活动，但其由纽约市地区的亲中组织共同协办。这两个活动都将在副总统赖清德前往巴拉圭新总统就职典礼途中过境美国的几天后举行。如果解放军再次像今年4月分蔡英文总统过境美国时那样进行大规模军事演习，那么大都会台湾日与亲中的中华文化之夜如此密切地相随，将会显得很奇怪。

确实，台湾是时候对那些优先考虑与中国大陆建立密切关系的组织说「不」了，不管是世界卫生组织，还是纽约大都会棒球队。

大都会台湾日的另一个独特之处在于选择由谁来投开球。去年是棒球选手彭政闵，而今年则是棒球评论员曾文诚。虽然两人在台湾都有知名度，但在台湾以外的地方并不太知名，因此错失了让更著名的人物代表台湾的机会。

不过，如果台湾政府和亲台组织坚持举办另一届大都会台湾日，那么以下是今年应该避免的事情：

在去年的录制致词影片中，蔡总统的表现显得像是在谈论她不熟悉的运动，这对她来说是非常不利的处境。如果蔡总统再次计划发表致词影片，她的幕僚必须要做更完善的准备。

在过去的几年里，大都会台湾日一直与总部位于美国的慈善机构Give2Asia合作。该机构致力于将美国的捐赠者与亚洲的慈善机构做中介联系。Give2Asia 会将大都会台湾日特别套票的部分收益捐赠给台湾的慈善机构。然而，在Give2Asia的网站上，与其合作的慈善机构竟被标示为「中国-台湾」，这样的描述矮化了台湾的地位。人们只能假设，Give2Asia之所以这样描述台湾是因为他们也与中国的慈善机构合作；若是将台湾仅列为「台湾」，可能会冒犯到这些机构。

去年，我们向外交部询问此事，而外交部的回复是：「驻处将积极洽请该组织更正」。然而，我们最近查看了Give2Asia的网站，它仍然将台湾的慈善机构标示为「中国-台湾」。外交部可能忘记了这件事，或者是因为未能说服Give2Asia更改描述。

纽约大都会这个赛季表现不佳，这意味着到了8月27日时现场可能会有很多空座位。台湾日合办机构因此有责任确保会有大批观众到场。这是一个政治性的活动，而不仅仅是与棒球有关而已。政治活动的一个游戏规则就是主办方应确保场地会被坐满。虽然中国的人口确实比台湾多得多，但如果中华文化之夜的观众人数超过了台湾日，这对台湾来说将会非常尴尬。

纽约大都会今年将再次赠送球衣。与去年相似的是，背面不会有球员名字，而是会印上「台湾」这个英文字。去年的赠送球衣，是 Made in China。今年也会是这样吗？

最后，乐天女孩啦啦队是否会被过度关注？在今年3月初，乐天女孩被宣布将成为大都会台湾职棒啦啦队并在台湾日的表演团体。这个决定是在台湾的#MeToo风潮爆发之前做出的。在世界棒球经典赛期间，台湾的棒球啦啦队获得了全球媒体的大量关注，而这大部分是因为啦啦队的性感形象。如果大都会台湾日的目标是提高台湾在纽约市或是棒球球迷中的知名度，乐天女孩可能不是最佳选择。出生于台湾大提琴家郭虔哲将演奏美国国歌；球迷在比赛中是会记得他，或是记得这是台湾日，还是只会记得乐天女孩呢？

（作者为美国共和党前亚太区主席，翻译：许淳恩）

Mets Taiwan Day, a Home Run or a Foul Ball?

By Ross Darrell Feingold

Former Asia Chairman, Republicans Abroad

@RossFeingold

On August 27 for the eighteenth time the New York Mets baseball team will host a “Taiwan Day”. Four days later, on September 1, the Mets will host its annual “An Evening of Chinese Culture”.

As this author wrote in The China Times a year ago, Taiwan should not participate in a Mets Taiwan Day so long as the Mets continue to host a Chinese culture night. Last year, the Mets “An Evening of Chinese Culture” was on August 6, and Taiwan Day was on August 28. Both events occurred following then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan and the large scale Chinese military exercises that followed.

This year, the Mets Taiwan Day will precede the annual Mets “An Evening of Chinese Culture” which is a similar event but co-organized by pro-China organizations in the New York City area. Both events will be days after follow Vice President William Lai’s transit of the United States on his way to and from the inauguration of Paraguay’s new president. If China conducts large scale military exercises again as it did when President Tsai Ing-wen transited the United States earlier this year, it will be strange that Mets Taiwan Day is so closely followed by the pro-China “An Evening of Chinese Culture” event.

Indeed, it’s time for Taiwan to say “no” to organizations that prioritize close relations with China, whether the World Health Organization or the New York Mets.

Another peculiar aspect of Mets Taiwan Day is who is selected to throw out the first pitch. Last year it was baseball player Peng Cheng-min and this year it is baseball commentator Tseng Wen-cheng. While both are popular in Taiwan, neither is well known outside Taiwan, and this is a missed opportunity to have a more prominent person represent Taiwan.

Regardless, if the Taiwan government and pro-Taiwan organizations insist on having another Mets Taiwan Day, here are things to avoid this year:

In last year’s recorded address, President Tsai Ing-wen came across as if she was talking about a sport with which she is not familiar, which is a terribly unfair position to put her into. If President Tsai again plans to deliver a video address, her aides must do a better job preparing her.

In past years, Mets Taiwan Day has worked with a charity partner, Give2Asia, a U.S.-based charity that connects donors in the United States with charities in Asia. Give2Asia will pass some of the special Mets Taiwan Day ticket proceeds to a charity in Taiwan. However, on the Give2Asia website, for the Taiwan charities t works with, the location as “China – Taiwan”, a description that belittles Taiwan. One can only assume Give2Asia describes Taiwan this way because Give2Asia also works with charities in China who might be offended if Taiwan is simply listed as “Taiwan”. Last year we inquired with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about this, and the reply we received from MOFA was “the Taiwan representative in New York City will urgently request Give2Asia to correct this”. However, we recently checked Give2Asia’s website, and it still identifies Taiwan-based charities as “China – Taiwan”. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs either forgot about this or failed to persuade Give2Asia to change the description.

The Mets are having a terrible season, which means that by August 27, it is likely there will be many empty seats. It’s up to Taiwanese-American organizations that are co-hosting Mets Taiwan Day to ensure there is a large crowd. This is a political (not only a baseball) event, and a basic rule of political events is that the organizers should make sure the venue is full. Notwithstanding that China’s population is many more times larger than Taiwan’s, it would be an embarrassment for Taiwan if there is a larger crowd for “An Evening of Chinese Culture”.

Once again there will be a Mets t-shirt give away, which instead of a player name on the back will have the word “Taiwan”. A similar t-shirt was given away last year but it was Made in China. Will this year’s give away T-shirt also be Made in China?

Finally, will there be too much focus on the Rakuten Girls Cheerleaders? It was announced in early March that the Rakuten Girls cheerleading squad would be part of the Taiwan entertainment for Mets Taiwan Day. The announcement was made before Taiwan’s #MeToo revelations began. Certainly, during the World Baseball Classic, Taiwan’s baseball cheerleaders received a lot of global media attention, which was due in large part to the cheer leaders sex appeal. If the goal of Mets Taiwan Day is to raise Taiwan’s profile in New York City or with baseball fans, the Rakuten Girls are probably not the best option. Cellist Kenneth Kuo, who was born in Taiwan, will play the United States national anthem; will fans at the game remember him, remember that it was Taiwan Day, or only remember the Rakuten Girls?