Nicky Wu drops out of baseball pitch
By Hsiu Cheng-yang, Chung Li-hua and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporters, with staff writer
The Fubon Guardians yesterday said Taiwanese actor Nicky Wu (吳奇隆) canceled his ceremonial first pitch for the team this weekend due to a health issue.
The baseball team’s announcement came a day after Wu posted a video on Sina Weibo of himself waving the People’s Republic of China flag in Beijing on China’s National Day, sparking furor in Taiwan.
Angry fans swarmed the Fubon Guardians’ Facebook page with comments slamming Wu and the team within hours of the video’s publication.
A composite image shows Taiwanese actor Nicky Wu waving the People’s Republic of China flag in Beijing on China’s National Day on Thursday.
Photo: Screen grab from Wu’s Sina Weibo account
“Have the Guardians gone mad? If [Wu] dares to show his face, [we] will tell him loud and clear that he should go back to China,” one Internet user said.
Tickets for the canceled event could be refunded until 23:59pm today, the day before it was supposed to take place, the Fubon Guardians posted on Facebook.
Straits Exchange Foundation Deputy Secretary-General Li Pao-wen (黎寶文) said that Taiwanese involved in cross-strait exchanges must not voice support for China to take over Taiwan by force nor make statements that diminish the nation’s sovereignty.
The foundation’s two red lines on Taiwan-China exchanges are consistent with the guidelines of the Mainland Affairs Council, Li said.
No one should support a war that would shatter regional peace and harm the collective interest of the global community, nor forget that the guarantor of their personal safety and livelihood is the Republic of China’s sovereignty, he said.
The Mainland Affairs Council previously said that Taiwanese entertainers seeking careers in China are not allowed to engage in any propaganda activity for Beijing nor support China’s use of military force against Taiwan.
Such actions contravene the Act Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例) and would be penalized accordingly, the council said.
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