National Basketball Association

Taiwan, China both try claiming Lin?

Published Feb. 15, 2012 12:00 a.m. ET

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Though most are just content to watch basketball phenomenon Jeremy Lin play, the Taiwanese-American's performance over the past two weeks has led both Chinese and Taiwanese to lay claim to the Knicks point guard, opening up a debate in social and traditional media about just who the Harvard graduate represents in Asia.

In Taiwan, American influence looms large and the island has its own professional basketball and baseball leagues. But the interest in those sports has often outstripped the island's ability to produce internationally recognized talent.

Unsurprisingly, when an exceptional player with Taiwan ties like Lin comes along, the Taiwanese are quick to hold him up as a Taiwanese hero.

It would be an understatement to say Taiwan has a bad case of "Linsanity." Lin has been on the front page of every major Taiwan newspaper and local malls have taken to broadcasting Knicks games in public spaces.

Not to be bested, supporters in mainland China have also gone wild, and as of Wednesday Lin had more than a million fans on the Chinese microblogging site Weibo. Chinese television stations have also covered his rise extensively, albeit with occasional edits that blur out references to Taiwan.

Though Taiwan has de facto sovereignty, most of its population are ethnically Chinese and China continues to claim Taiwan as a part of China and has not ruled out the use of force to take the island.

As a result, China often uses its influence to make sure Taiwan does not signal in any way that it is an independent country and thus teams from Taiwan are often forced to play under confusing euphemisms, like Chinese Taipei in international competitions.

Lin's father's family has been in Taiwan for several generations, while his grandmother emigrated from Zhejiang, China, during the Chinese civil war. Lin was born and raised in the US.

Lin has thus far managed to steer clear of controversy by giving a nod to both his Taiwan and Chinese heritage, but if history is any guide, Lin's politicization is unlikely to stop there.

In 2010 a controversy broke out over Taiwanese female golf prodigy and current No. 1 ranked Yani Tseng, who local media reported rejected an offer of $25 million from a Chinese company to change her citizenship from Taiwan to China.

In a recent interview Lin gave a nod to Taiwan saying, "I love going to Taiwan and I'm going to be there every summer, so to all the Taiwanese fans I can't wait to see them again this summer."

Eric Chang, an avid NBA fan and Taiwanese American living in Taiwan, said beyond the Chinese "haters" who debate Lin's heritage, more important is what Lin is doing for Asian-Americans in the US.

"Asian-American males are generally underrepresented in professional US sports, and he's smashing down those barriers," he said.

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