The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday called on the Taipei City Government to replace action star Jackie Chan (成龍) as spokesman for the Deaflympics.
“Jackie Chan is unwelcome in Taiwan and the Taipei City Government should immediately remove him from the Deaflympics team,” DPP spokesman Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦) told a press conference.
Having Chan as spokesman would not bring positive publicity to the Games, Cheng said.
He said Chan did not believe in democracy and was used to living in an authoritarian regime.
“This is not the first time Jackie Chan has made ridiculous comments criticizing Taiwan,” Cheng said.
Chan said at the Boao business forum in Hainan on Saturday that freedom may not be appropriate for China.
“I’m not sure if it’s good to have freedom or not,” he said. “I’m gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to be controlled. If we’re not being controlled, we’ll just do what we want.”
Freedom in Hong Kong and Taiwan, he said, had made those societies “chaotic.”
Chan’s comments drew applause from an audience of Chinese government officials, but foreign reporters were shocked.
DPP caucus whip Kao Jyh-peng (高志鵬) said the caucus would propose a bill requesting that the Executive Yuan stop funding the Deaflympics if the city government did not replace Chan as spokesman.
In response, Emile Sheng (盛治仁), chairman of the Taipei Deaflympics Organizing Committee (TDOC) and Taipei City’s Research and Development Evaluation Commission, said that while he personally disagreed with Chan’s comments, Taiwan was a society of democracy and tolerance.
He also said the TDOC would tell Chan the city’s concerns about his comments via the appropriate channels.
No plans to appoint a new Games ambassador have been made, Sheng said, adding that if they replaced Chan over a single comment, it would hurt Taiwan’s international image as a democracy.
Instead, the committee wishes to let sports be sports and politics be politics, and hold a sporting event that transcends politics and tolerates different points of views, he said.
He said that in this way Taiwan’s multi-faceted values and democratic tolerance would be reflected.
Asked if the committee would invite Chan to attend future TDOC events, Sheng said: “Allow me to reserve that possibility.”
Sheng said Chan was invited to be one of the 12 ambassadors for the games because of his international fame and his severe hearing impairment as a result of shooting action movies.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓), convener of the Foreign and National Defense Committee, disagreed with calls for Chan to be replaced.
Chou said Chan should spend more time in Taiwan so that he can gain a better understanding of the nation. Chou said he might also invite Chan to the legislature so he can sit in on legislative meetings.
However, KMT Legislator Chiu Yi (邱毅) accused Chan of creating a furor in a bid to save his movie career.
“He’s getting more and more ridiculous. He criticized China, Taiwan and Hong Kong as if he were the greatest thing in the world,” Chiu said. “Does he think he became a real super-cop and savior of the world after starring in Police Story?”
Meanwhile, Hong Kong Tourism Board Chairman James Tien (田北俊) said yesterday that he had received many complaints about Chan’s comments.
Tien said that as Chan was an internationally known star, his comments were influential, adding that the board was dealing with the complaints.
Tien said it was still being discussed as to whether Chan would be stripped of his Hong Kong Tourism Ambassador title.
Internet users in Hong Kong have called for a boycott of Chan’s movies and any products he endorses and have demanded that the Hong Kong government remove his title and his civil servant status.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
MAKING WAVES: China’s maritime militia could become a nontraditional threat in war, clogging up shipping lanes to prevent US or Japanese intervention, a report said About 1,900 Chinese ships flying flags of convenience and fishing vessels that participated in China’s military exercises around Taiwan last month and in January last year have been listed for monitoring, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) Deputy Director-General Hsieh Ching-chin (謝慶欽) said yesterday. Following amendments to the Commercial Port Act (商港法) and the Law of Ships (船舶法) last month, the CGA can designate possible berthing areas or deny ports of call for vessels suspected of loitering around areas where undersea cables can be accessed, Oceans Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. The list of suspected ships, originally 300, had risen to about
DAREDEVIL: Honnold said it had always been a dream of his to climb Taipei 101, while a Netflix producer said the skyscraper was ‘a real icon of this country’ US climber Alex Honnold yesterday took on Taiwan’s tallest building, becoming the first person to scale Taipei 101 without a rope, harness or safety net. Hundreds of spectators gathered at the base of the 101-story skyscraper to watch Honnold, 40, embark on his daredevil feat, which was also broadcast live on Netflix. Dressed in a red T-shirt and yellow custom-made climbing shoes, Honnold swiftly moved up the southeast face of the glass and steel building. At one point, he stepped onto a platform midway up to wave down at fans and onlookers who were taking photos. People watching from inside
Japan’s strategic alliance with the US would collapse if Tokyo were to turn away from a conflict in Taiwan, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said yesterday, but distanced herself from previous comments that suggested a possible military response in such an event. Takaichi expressed her latest views on a nationally broadcast TV program late on Monday, where an opposition party leader criticized her for igniting tensions with China with the earlier remarks. Ties between Japan and China have sunk to the worst level in years after Takaichi said in November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could bring about a Japanese
The WHO ignored early COVID-19 warnings from Taiwan, US Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services Jim O’Neill said on Friday, as part of justification for Washington withdrawing from the global health body. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday said that the US was pulling out of the UN agency, as it failed to fulfill its responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO “ignored early COVID warnings from Taiwan in 2019 by pretending Taiwan did not exist, O’Neill wrote on X on Friday, Taiwan time. “It ignored rigorous science and promoted lockdowns.” The US will “continue international coordination on infectious
RSS