Karishma Vaswani, Columnist

How a Baseball Game in Japan Is Testing China on Taiwan

March 11, 2026 at 9:00 PM UTC

Karishma Vaswani is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering Asia politics with a special focus on China. Previously, she was the BBC's lead Asia presenter and worked for the BBC across Asia and South Asia for two decades.

A baseball game or a geopolitical storm?
Photographer: Toru Hanai/Getty Images

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A weekend appearance by Taiwan’s Premier Cho Jung-tai at Tokyo Dome, where he cheered on his island’s team at the World Baseball Classic, has created a geopolitical storm. But the real significance of this match lies beyond the stadium. It’s a signal that Tokyo and Taipei are testing how much Beijing can practically control their engagement.

Cho’s presence was notable: He is the first sitting Taiwanese premier to visit Japan since 1972, when Tokyo severed diplomatic ties with Taipei and recognized the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government.