This article was from March 28, 1997. I got it from Inside China
TAIPEI -- China's national team will face arch rival Taiwan in May's Asian baseball championship despite a freeze on political exchanges across the Taiwan strait.Neophyte China and Asian power Taiwan will participate in the tournament that opens on May 25, along with Japan, South Korea, the Philippines and Thailand, the host organization said on Friday.
"The mainland team is taking care of necessary paperwork and should be able to come for the tournament if all goes well," Lin Chiang, secretary general of the Chinese Taipei Amateur Baseball Association, told the state-run Central News Agency.
The championship serves as an Olympic qualifying tournament during Olympic years for Asia's traditionally powerful baseball squads.
Although Taiwan and China have been political rivals since a civil war split them in 1949, cultural and economic ties have flourished under an unofficial thaw dating to the late 1980s. Semi-official talks were halted by Beijing in mid-1995.
A high-profile group of Atlanta Olympic gold medallists from China toured Taiwan in March to promote sports exchanges across the Taiwan strait.
Lin said the May tournament would field only amateur players despite the International Baseball Association's 1996 decision to allow professionals to compete in the 2000 Sydney Olympics.
The mainland squad might see more than just baseball when they visit, as Taiwan's professional baseball is reeling from widespread allegations that many players and coaches have fixed games in exchange for kickbacks from gambling gangsters.
Long a baseball powerhouse, Taiwan won the Barcelona Olympic silver medal in 1992. Japan took the silver in Atlanta. Cuba took the gold in both Olympiads.
Taiwan and China competed in the same Olympics for the first time in 1984 at Los Angeles. China has never qualified for Olympic baseball despite its growing gold-medal prowess in other events.
And these next two from the other day, May 23 and May 26, 1997 from Taiwan's Central News site
Taipei, May 23 (CNA) The first mainland team ever to play at an international athletic competition in Taiwan expressed excitement at being here.The 31-member mainland team, led by Zhong Tianfa, chairman of the China Baseball Association, arrived here Thursday night to take part in the 19th Baseball Federation of Asia (BFA) Championship May 25-June 1.
Song Pingshan, manager of the mainland team, said he was excited to play in Taiwan.
Song and his players are the first mainland team to ever be granted official approval to come to Taiwan to participate in an international athletic competition and have been the focus of intense media interest.
The 21 players were drawn from baseball teams in Beijing, Tianjin, Sichuan and other places in mainland China.
The team has nine pitchers. Among them, Wang Zhanpeng of Beijing and Li Jiaqiang of Tianjin are considered the most talented.
Wang said the mainland team trained in Guangzhou in southern mainland China for one week before coming to Taiwan.
The Beijing players, whose team has won five consecutive championships in the mainland, form the backbone of the team now in Taiwan.
Song, the former manager of the Beijing team, was modest in his appraisal of his players, saying that the mainland team is still no rival to the Chinese Taipei team. He said his only hope is that the mainland team plays the best it can.
Four other teams from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and the Philippines will arrive in Taiwan over the next two days to participate in the championship, which is held every two years. (By Lilian Wu)
Taipei, May 26 (CNA) In the second day of the Baseball Federation of Asia Championship here, Chinese Taipei defeated Thailand, Japan beat the Philippines, and South Korea won against mainland China.Chinese Taipei trounced Thailand 23-0, while Japan shut out the Philippines 15-0. Both games were ended after only five innings because of the huge margin of victory.
In a Monday morning game, with Taipei getting eight runs in the first inning, four in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and seven in the fifth, Thailand threw in the towel with four innings to play.
In the game between Japan and the Philippines Monday afternoon, Japan chalked up eight runs in the second inning, four in the third, and three in the fourth, while the Philippines remained scoreless.
In Monday's third game, South Korea defeated mainland China 8-4 in the evening.
Chinese Taipei, Japan and South Korea are all 2 for 2 so far.
Due to overly lopsided victories on the first two days of the tournament, the organizers supplemented the rules Monday by providing that games could be ended after the fifth inning if the point margin is 15 or more, or ended in the seventh inning if the margin exceeds 9 runs. (By Maubo Chang)