Office of the President Republic of China(Taiwan)

President Ma Ying-jeou on the evening of November 1 attended the opening of an exhibition series between an all-star team from US Major League Baseball and Taiwan's national team. The first game was held at the Xinzhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City. The president presented a "pride of Taiwan" trophy to Wang Chien-ming (王建民), a Taiwanese pitcher who first pitched for the New York Yankees and now for the Washington Nationals. Among those attending the game were Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡), Chinese Taipei Baseball Association President Chen Tai-cheng (陳太正), New Taipei City Mayor Eric Liluan Chu (朱立倫), and International Baseball Federation Executive Committee member Tom C.H. Peng (彭誠浩).

In remarks before the game, the president extended a welcome to Taiwan to the major league players from the United States on behalf of the government and people of the ROC. He also expressed his appreciation to members of the Taiwan national team for returning to Taiwan to take part in the series. President Ma commented that baseball is Taiwan's national pastime and that the government will continue to work to improve such aspects as training facilities, player training systems, and career counseling for coaches, to enable the sport to flourish here.

The president also expressed his hope that the athletes will take advantage of this opportunity to make new friendships and interact with others so that players and teams from Taiwan can perform even better in the international baseball arena.