Visiting US official points out that Lin is a 'born American'

Taipei (The China Post/ANN) - The ongoing "Linsanity" continued to dominate Taiwan's political field yesterday as Jeremy Lin became a hot topic when President Ma Ying-jeou met with a visiting United States congressional delegation yesterday.

Ma got a bit of a surprise, however, when he brought up the rising New York Knicks point guard as he pointed out that both Taiwan and the U.S. shared views on many values and in addition "we both appreciate Jeremy Lin."

After a good laugh, the leader of the group, Representative Eni Faleomavaega from American Samoa, had a comeback.

"I want to say that I'm sorry to tell you that Jeremy Lin is an American, a blue-blooded born American," Faleomavaega said, drawing hearty laughter from Ma, and then added "who happens to be of Taiwanese ancestry, and we're proud to have him."

The American congressman continued that the 23-year-old Harvard graduate's recent amazing performance made everyone proud, especially to Asian-Americans.

He also highly recognized the contributions to U.S. society made by the total of 19 million Asian-Americans in the U.S.

On a more serious note, Ma talked about his China policy during his meeting with the delegation at the Presidential Office yesterday morning, saying that it was designed to "replace conflicts with reconciliation, and use coordination and negotiation to solve problems."

The 10-member U.S. congressional delegation arrived in Taiwan on Feb.18 for a visit slated to last until Feb. 25.

Though Lin is an American citizen, both of Lin's parents are from central Taiwan's Changhua County. Because of this special bond, Taiwanese people consider him a local son and the "Pride of Taiwan."

Later yesterday, Ma again mentioned the name of Lin when he received a group of students.

Calling Lin a role model to all, Ma encouraged Taiwanese youths to engage in regular exercise to build a strong physique in addition to focusing on school work.

Ma also pledged that his government will set aside funds to build a total of 50 sports centers around the country to promote physical education among Taiwanese.

Meanwhile, Premier Sean Chen, himself a hoops fan, also said the government will make "appropriate allocation of funds" to promote basketball in Taiwan.

But he stressed that the government will not raise the budget originally allocated to the sport simply because of the ongoing Lin fever.