时论广场》纽约人看「纽约大都会台湾日」（方恩格 Ross Darrell Feingold）

2021年的大都会「台湾日」、花旗球场大萤幕上播放了蔡英文总统的谈话影片，当场由驻美代表萧美琴担任开球嘉宾。（图/中央社）

美国职棒大联盟「纽约大都会队」将在8月28日举办「台湾日」活动。纽约土生土长的笔者从小便是纽约大都会队的死忠粉丝，然而比起对大都会队的支持，我更关心台湾。

虽然大家都刻意强调体育归体育、政治归政治，但无论是2018年台中的东亚青年运动会主办权在中国压力之下被取消、东京奥运官方推特帐号在宣布得奖者时，刻意避放中华民国国旗以及获奖的台湾选手姓名、又或者是在北京冬奥台湾选手黄郁婷穿中国队服引发的争论等，在在证实了现实中这些国际间的体育赛事难以脱离政治因素。

而已经举办了17届的大都会台湾日，到底对于台湾有什么益处？8月6 日，大都会队举办了一场名为「中华文化之夜」的活动，时值美国众议院议长裴洛西访台后中共进行着恫吓台湾的军演期间。而这届大都会「中华文化之夜」活动发给球迷的纪念物是以五星旗做配色的棒球帽，鲜红底色配上黄色的大都会logo，帽侧还有一面中国国旗。这在美国引起了一些关注，如《华盛顿邮报》就有社论批评大都会队与纽约华人圈一同与中国政府组织协办了这个大都会「中华文化之夜」作为中国的大外宣。

当然大都会队发送绣有中共国旗的帽子的这项举动值得检视，但从台湾的角度而言，更应该质疑的是台湾是否也应继续与大都会队配合举办「台湾日」？「台湾日」的功能是否具备实质效益来辅佐台湾的国际形象策略？

大都会队长年举办「台湾日」、「中华文化之夜」，以及其他亚洲的文化相关庆祝活动，包括「日本文化遗产之夜」、「亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民文化遗产之夜」、「韩国之夜」和「菲律宾之夜」等。他们也会举办其他族群的庆祝日活动，例如「西班牙裔文化遗产之夜」。对于大都会队来说，这些活动除了有助售票与公关宣传之外，也可以吸引当地的特定族裔社群。

2021年的大都会「台湾日」、花旗球场大萤幕上播放了蔡英文总统的谈话影片，当场由驻美代表萧美琴担任开球嘉宾。这在台湾引起了一阵亢奋，许多台湾媒体都指称其具有特殊的政治意涵，并强调民主进步的台湾与其他非民主国家形成鲜明对比。无论是蔡英文总统的录影致词，或近年来台湾在外交场合的宣传，都着重在强调台美关系和民主化发展。很明显台湾本身希望把政治带入「台湾日」活动。笔者认为若要持续将大都会「台湾日」与台湾的政治地位相连结，最好的方式不外乎是持续请到驻美最高层级官员（驻美代表）在「台湾日」上开球，这会让代表台湾官方的官员有一个能接触到美国的公众平台，并且能清楚将「台湾日」与「中华文化之夜」区别开来。

然而今年不再同去年找驻美代表来开球，取而代之的是由棒球选手彭政闵来开球。彭政闵在台湾虽然广为人知，但就如同过去那些在大都会「台湾日」开球的台湾嘉宾，除了电影导演李安和诺贝尔奖得主李远哲之外，美国大众并不认识那些从台湾飞去的开球嘉宾。场边观众只会专注吃他们的热狗与享受啤酒、期盼球赛快快开打，他们不会因为看到一个他们不认识的开球嘉宾而感到兴奋，这对台湾的曝光也没有帮助。

其中一个极少被关注到的看点是，大都会「台湾日」有一个合作伙伴「Give2Asia」，这是一家总部位于美国的慈善机构，主要作为美国的捐助与亚洲慈善机构的中介联系，他们的功能之一在于将「台湾日」部分的收益捐赠给一些台湾的非政府机构及慈善团体。然而，在「Give2Asia」官方网站上，这些获赠的台湾机构名单都被标示为「中国台湾」。想当然尔，该机构也进行着许多与中国的合作，这很可能是他们在字面上如此矮化台湾的原因。笔者很惊讶台湾不但没有对之提出抗议，还继续与之合作并接受它的捐献。

另外值得检视之处是大都会台湾日的赛程时间安排。由于「台湾日」比赛是纽约当地周日下午，台湾则已是深夜，这让身在台湾的民众很难一同相聚观看公开转播。此外，当天同时也有着另一场「世界少棒大赛」冠军赛，台湾少棒一直都表现杰出，年年有出战冠军赛的可能，如果主办单位能更细心一点考虑到这件事，或许能避免爱好棒球的台湾人必须要在这两个撞期的活动上择一。

世界少棒大赛的比赛场地距离纽约市只有约4个小时的车程。如果你是身在当地的台湾人，你会选择跟着台湾同胞们一同组队前往世界少棒大赛、在场边为对抗美国队的台湾队带来声势浩大的加油声？还是会选择参加现场有数万人的纽约大都会对科罗拉多洛矶队呢？

正如台湾政府应该要拒绝启动「台美21世纪贸易倡议」，以表达对被排除在印太经济框架之外的不满，台湾大可不必急着想与中国友好的外国政府、国际组织、跨国企业或亲中人士交好，以保留一点骨气。

然而台湾却选择对于大都会队在不久前与中国合办了「中华文化之夜」视而不见，仍然对于大都会「台湾日」这样的活动趋之若鹜，这或许能让部分台湾媒体放大一些台湾人在国际能见度的小确幸，但对于台湾的国际尊严实在加不了分。（作者为美国共和党前亚太区主席）

英文全文：

Mets Taiwan Day: To Play or Not Play

By Ross Darrell Feingold

Former Asia Chairman, Republicans Abroad

On Sunday 28 August the New York Mets will host the 17th Taiwan Day (also sometimes referred to as Taiwan Heritage Day). This author is a lifelong Mets fan but being a Mets fan is not as important to me as my life in Taiwan, and, Taiwan’s dignity is far more important to me than a Taiwan Day at Citi Field.

There are several reasons why this year’s Mets Taiwan Day is problematic. Although we would like to think that sports and politics can be separated, the reality is that they cannot, including for Taiwan and China. Whether the revocation in 2018 of Taichung’s hosting rights for the East Asian Youth Games, Olympic games Twitter accounts refusing to display the Republic of China flag in tweets with medal winners names (though it does so for athletes from other countries), or the controversy over Huang Yu-ting (黄郁婷) wearing a suit from China’s team during training in what was supposed to be an act consistent with the Olympic spirit.

On Saturday 6 August, the Mets hosted an event called the “Evening of Chinese Culture”. This event occurred in the middle of China’s military exercises that followed the visit to Taiwan of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The promotional gift to fans was a New York Mets baseball hat, though in red color with a People’s Republic of China flag on the side of the hat. This generated some attention in the United States, including a commentary in The Washington Post that criticized the Mets for organizing the Evening of Chinese Culture with ethnic Chinese organizations in New York City aligned with the Chinese government.

Certainly, it is easy to criticize the Mets for working with such organizations or giving away a hat with the PRC flag. But from a Taiwan perspective, maybe we should question why Taiwan continues to work with the Mets to organize this event, and whether there is a long-term strategy for this event, or, whether the event has already exhausted its utility.

The Mets have hosted both “Evening of Chinese Culture” and “Taiwan Day” for years, along with other Asian cultural celebrations including a Japanese Heritage Night, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Night, Korea Night, and Filipino Night. The Mets also have events that celebrate non-Asian ethnic groups such as a Hispanic Heritage Night. For the Mets, the motivation is to sell tickets and endear itself to certain ethnic communities in the New York City area.

In 2021 the Mets Taiwan Day included a speech from President Tsai Ing-wen broadcast on the Citi Field video screen, and Representative to the United States Hsiao Bi-khim threw out the first pitch. Understandably, this generated a lot of excitement in Taiwan, with commentators saying it had special political meaning because of the contrast of democratic Taiwan having an event with the Mets versus the China-affiliated Chinese Heritage Night. The content of President Tsai’s message, and the messaging by the Taiwan government for the event, included a heavy emphasis on US-Taiwan relations and democracy. Given that the Taiwan government decided to politicize Mets Taiwan Day, one would think Taiwan would want to continue the precedent of the representative to the United States throwing out the first pitch. Instead, the baseball player Peng Cheng-min will throw out the first pitch this year. Peng is well-known to persons from Taiwan but, like most of the previous individuals who threw out the first pitch on Mets Taiwan Day (with the exception of movie director Ang Lee and Nobel Prize winner Lee Yuan-tseh), unknown to the American public.

The Mets Taiwan Day works 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”.

One more aspect of Mets Taiwan Day that is peculiar is the scheduling. As the game is on Sunday afternoon, it will be in the middle of night Taiwan time, making it difficult to have “public watch” events in Taiwan. In addition, the same afternoon is the Little League World Series championship game, and in 2022, just like any year, there is the possibility that the Taiwan team will play in the championship game. The location of the Little League World Series is only about a four hour drive from New York City, and it would have made more of a statement if thousands of Taiwanese could go to the Little League World Series in person rather than only be a few thousand among the tens of thousands at Citi Field.

Just as how the Taiwan government could have declined to join the U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade to show its displeasure at the exclusion from the Indo Pacific Economic Framework, Taiwan need not seek the friendship of foreign governments, VIPs, companies, or multilateral organizations that are China friendly. Unfortunately, Taiwan holding an event with the Mets three weeks after the Mets celebrated the People’s Republic of China comes across as yet another Taiwan “pity party” event to attract the world’s pity, but at a cost to Taiwan’s dignity.