Local newspaper Liberty Times blasted Taiwan NT for putting on sponsor jerseys instead of NT uniform in a game during the Philippines warm-up tour in August. The news story said it’s a “disgrace” for Taiwan NT to put on sponsor jerseys and forget about their country.
In the August 10th game featuring Taiwan NT and PBA pro team Ginebra, Taiwan NT was asked by the organizers before the game to put on jerseys provided by local sponsors, since the company “Mail and More” paid for the game operations.
“Mail and More Chinese Taipei” team, as it was called, was reluctant at first but finally agreed to change uniforms. Players followed the order from team officials.
CTBA secretary general Wang Jen-shen was quoted in Philippines Daily Inquirer saying, "The Taiwanese team would like to extend its heartfelt thanks to Air21 chair Bert Lina for sponsoring our trip here in Manila."
The incident was kept unknown after the team came back to Taiwan until yesterday. Wang denied taking money from the sponsors and said he decided to do so because he didn’t want to hurt the relationship from both sides. Unlike Philippines NT, Taiwan NT never sells naming rights to local sponsors, although they have been sponsored by NIKE Taiwan.