President Tsai Ing-wen made an appearance and addressed New York Mets Taiwan Day via video. President Tsai was pleased to welcome the fans back at Citi Field to cheer on the Mets after a tough season last year. She proudly introduced the Taiwanese athletes and thanked the United States for donating COVID-19 vaccines to Taiwan. President Tsai also thanked the Representative to the United States Ms. Hsia Bi-khim and the team of Taiwan diplomats in the US for all their hard work. At the end of the video, President Tsai and Representative Hsiao appeared together and cheered for the METs game and for US-Taiwan relationship.
The Mets Taiwan Day event was held almost annually since 2005. In the past there might be featured activity booths, culture performances or advertisements to attract the fans to learn more about Taiwan. For this year’s event, The Representative to the United States Ms. Hsiao Bi-khim was invited to throw out the honorary first pitch, and she is the first Taiwanese representative to the US to throw the first pitch. There were also cultural performances outside the venue, and booths to provide Taiwan tourism information.
The Federation of Taiwanese Student Associations in New York joining with Education Division of TECO NY invite more than 200 Taiwanese Students to Mets Taiwan Day. The oversea Taiwanese students in New York region were very excited to meet so many Taiwanese and to see the national flags flying in the Citi Field. Representative Ms. Hsiao Bi-khim, Director General Mr. James Lee, and Education Director Min-Ling Yang joined the celebration with Taiwanese students and took selfing photos during the event.