Concerned about the future of the Brother Elephants in the wake of the game-fixing scandal, Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling met with the team's general manager, Hung Rei-ho, earlier Monday.

"Despite the scandal, I remain confident in the strength of the Brother Elephants, and I encouraged Hung to continue operating the team," Tai said of her meeting with Hung.

Noting that the team has been in operations for 25 years and has the largest number of fans of any of the professional league's four franchises, Tai said her council does not want to see the Elephants disband.

"I told Hung that many players are disciplined and focused and should not be forced to leave their beloved profession and beloved team simply because of some players' alleged involvement in game-fixing," Tai said.

According to the minister, Hung will decide on the Elephants' fate after he meets with Chao Shou-po, president of Taiwan's Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), next week when Chao returns home from an overseas visit.

Tai said the government will convene an interministerial meeting next Tuesday to discuss issues regarding professional baseball development.

"At the upcoming meeting, I will convey Hung's request that law enforcement authorities adopt preventive strategies to help resolve the gambling and game-fixing issues that have often cast a pall on our professional baseball development, " Tai said.

She added that criminal investigators and prosecutors should address the issues from a preventive perspective to avoid impeding the development of the pro game in Taiwan.

If the Elephants' management eventually decides to disband the team, Tai said her council will help seek other corporations to sponsor a team in the league.

"Anyway, we will make every possible effort to keep the CPBL afloat," Tai said.

Hung vowed last year during a similar game-fixing scandal to disband his team if any of his players were involved in gambling and game fixing, but he now seems to be having second thoughts.

He was quoted by a local newspaper as saying that despite his debilitating pain over his players' betrayal of his trust, he could not ignore his team's social responsibility.

"I felt heartbroken... Our reputation and image which we have been working so hard to cultivate over a quarter of century were destroyed overnight... I could not but feel despondent," Hung said.

The alleged involvement of Elephants players, including Tsao Chin-hui -- the first Taiwanese pitcher to ever compete in the U.S.

Major Leagues -- dealt yet another harsh blow to the CPBL's already tarnished image.

Since 1996, five major game-fixing scandals have been reported, but it marked the first time that Elephants players were involved.

Hung said that if the government does not take active steps to resolve the baseball-related gambling issue once and for all, it would be meaningless for his team to continue operations, as new scandals are likely to occur every one or two years.

Hung said earlier in the day his team has decided not to extend its contracts with Tsao and the team's Japanese manager Nakakomi Shin.

It will also discontinue its contracts with four players -- pitchers Wang Chin-li, Wu Bau-hsien, and Li Hao-jen and infielder Ju Hung-suen -- all of whom have confessed to prosecutors their involvement in game-fixing.

In an effort to alleviate concerns that the latest scandal could become the last straw for the demise of Taiwan's professional baseball, Vice Premier Eric Liluan Chu said Friday the government will not stand idly by as the CPBL collapses.

Chu stressed that the investigation into the game-fixing allegations are not aimed at wiping out professional baseball but rather at promoting its development in the right direction, and he pledged that the government will cooperate with teams and the league to resurrect the sport after the investigation is concluded.

"Baseball will not come to its demise in Taiwan. We should have confidence. The government will endeavor to create a clean and secure environment for baseball players and baseball fans, " Chu pledged.

(By Hsiao Pao-hsiang, Lin Szu-yu and Sofia Wu)