時論廣場》紐約人看「紐約大都會臺灣日」（方恩格 Ross Darrell Feingold）

2021年的大都會「臺灣日」、花旗球場大螢幕上播放了蔡英文總統的談話影片，當場由駐美代表蕭美琴擔任開球嘉賓。（圖/中央社）

美國職棒大聯盟「紐約大都會隊」將在8月28日舉辦「臺灣日」活動。紐約土生土長的筆者從小便是紐約大都會隊的死忠粉絲，然而比起對大都會隊的支持，我更關心臺灣。

雖然大家都刻意強調體育歸體育、政治歸政治，但無論是2018年臺中的東亞青年運動會主辦權在中國壓力之下被取消、東京奧運官方推特帳號在宣佈得獎者時，刻意避放中華民國國旗以及獲獎的臺灣選手姓名、又或者是在北京冬奧臺灣選手黃鬱婷穿中國隊服引發的爭論等，在在證實了現實中這些國際間的體育賽事難以脫離政治因素。

而已經舉辦了17屆的大都會臺灣日，到底對於臺灣有什麼益處？8月6 日，大都會隊舉辦了一場名爲「中華文化之夜」的活動，時值美國衆議院議長裴洛西訪臺後中共進行着恫嚇臺灣的軍演期間。而這屆大都會「中華文化之夜」活動發給球迷的紀念物是以五星旗做配色的棒球帽，鮮紅底色配上黃色的大都會logo，帽側還有一面中國國旗。這在美國引起了一些關注，如《華盛頓郵報》就有社論批評大都會隊與紐約華人圈一同與中國政府組織協辦了這個大都會「中華文化之夜」作爲中國的大外宣。

當然大都會隊發送繡有中共國旗的帽子的這項舉動值得檢視，但從臺灣的角度而言，更應該質疑的是臺灣是否也應繼續與大都會隊配合舉辦「臺灣日」？「臺灣日」的功能是否具備實質效益來輔佐臺灣的國際形象策略？

大都會隊長年舉辦「臺灣日」、「中華文化之夜」，以及其他亞洲的文化相關慶祝活動，包括「日本文化遺產之夜」、「亞裔美國人和太平洋島民文化遺產之夜」、「韓國之夜」和「菲律賓之夜」等。他們也會舉辦其他族羣的慶祝日活動，例如「西班牙裔文化遺產之夜」。對於大都會隊來說，這些活動除了有助售票與公關宣傳之外，也可以吸引當地的特定族裔社羣。

2021年的大都會「臺灣日」、花旗球場大螢幕上播放了蔡英文總統的談話影片，當場由駐美代表蕭美琴擔任開球嘉賓。這在臺灣引起了一陣亢奮，許多臺灣媒體都指稱其具有特殊的政治意涵，並強調民主進步的臺灣與其他非民主國家形成鮮明對比。無論是蔡英文總統的錄影致詞，或近年來臺灣在外交場合的宣傳，都着重在強調臺美關係和民主化發展。很明顯臺灣本身希望把政治帶入「臺灣日」活動。筆者認爲若要持續將大都會「臺灣日」與臺灣的政治地位相連結，最好的方式不外乎是持續請到駐美最高層級官員（駐美代表）在「臺灣日」上開球，這會讓代表臺灣官方的官員有一個能接觸到美國的公衆平臺，並且能清楚將「臺灣日」與「中華文化之夜」區別開來。

然而今年不再同去年找駐美代表來開球，取而代之的是由棒球選手彭政閔來開球。彭政閔在臺灣雖然廣爲人知，但就如同過去那些在大都會「臺灣日」開球的臺灣嘉賓，除了電影導演李安和諾貝爾獎得主李遠哲之外，美國大衆並不認識那些從臺灣飛去的開球嘉賓。場邊觀衆只會專注吃他們的熱狗與享受啤酒、期盼球賽快快開打，他們不會因爲看到一個他們不認識的開球嘉賓而感到興奮，這對臺灣的曝光也沒有幫助。

其中一個極少被關注到的看點是，大都會「臺灣日」有一個合作伙伴「Give2Asia」，這是一家總部位於美國的慈善機構，主要作爲美國的捐助與亞洲慈善機構的中介聯繫，他們的功能之一在於將「臺灣日」部分的收益捐贈給一些臺灣的非政府機構及慈善團體。然而，在「Give2Asia」官方網站上，這些獲贈的臺灣機構名單都被標示爲「中國臺灣」。想當然爾，該機構也進行着許多與中國的合作，這很可能是他們在字面上如此矮化臺灣的原因。筆者很驚訝臺灣不但沒有對之提出抗議，還繼續與之合作並接受它的捐獻。

另外值得檢視之處是大都會臺灣日的賽程時間安排。由於「臺灣日」比賽是紐約當地週日下午，臺灣則已是深夜，這讓身在臺灣的民衆很難一同相聚觀看公開轉播。此外，當天同時也有着另一場「世界少棒大賽」冠軍賽，臺灣少棒一直都表現傑出，年年有出戰冠軍賽的可能，如果主辦單位能更細心一點考慮到這件事，或許能避免愛好棒球的臺灣人必須要在這兩個撞期的活動上擇一。

世界少棒大賽的比賽場地距離紐約市只有約4個小時的車程。如果你是身在當地的臺灣人，你會選擇跟着臺灣同胞們一同組隊前往世界少棒大賽、在場邊爲對抗美國隊的臺灣隊帶來聲勢浩大的加油聲？還是會選擇參加現場有數萬人的紐約大都會對科羅拉多洛磯隊呢？

正如臺灣政府應該要拒絕啓動「臺美21世紀貿易倡議」，以表達對被排除在印太經濟框架之外的不滿，臺灣大可不必急着想與中國友好的外國政府、國際組織、跨國企業或親中人士交好，以保留一點骨氣。

然而臺灣卻選擇對於大都會隊在不久前與中國合辦了「中華文化之夜」視而不見，仍然對於大都會「臺灣日」這樣的活動趨之若鶩，這或許能讓部分臺灣媒體放大一些臺灣人在國際能見度的小確幸，但對於臺灣的國際尊嚴實在加不了分。（作者爲美國共和黨前亞太區主席）

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 (黃鬱婷) 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.