The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday denounced a private Chinese company after the company used China’s flag with pictures pf several Taiwanese celebrities nominated for a beauty contest.
The company’s actions would only drive people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait further apart, the ministry said.
US-based film critic TC Candler’s official Instagram account for the Asia-Pacific region uploaded photographs of nominees for the Most Beautiful Asia Faces of 2018 late last month.
Screengrab from the LikeTCCAsia Weibo page
Among them were several well-known Taiwanese celebrities, including K-pop star Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), Mayday lead vocalist Ashin (阿信), singers Jay Chou (周杰倫), Cyndi Wang (王心凌), Fan Fan (范瑋琪) and others.
However, their photographs had the national flag of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) superimposed on the upper right corner, drawing protests from the ministry.
The ministry in a press release said that it had instructed representative offices abroad to look into the incident of incorrect nationality identification immediately after it learned of the matter on Feb. 23.
“The response TC Candler gave us is that it supports our country and the use of our own national flag at its events, but Most Beautiful Asia Faces was held by a Chinese company called LikeTCCAsia after it purchased the rights,” the ministry said.
Despite its “strong protest” and demand that corrections be made, the ministry said it has yet to receive a concrete response from the Chinese firm.
It would continue its efforts to safeguard Taiwan’s national dignity and the rights of its citizens, it said.
It also urged the international community to understand Taiwan’s de facto independence and respect the feelings of the Taiwanese public.
“Actions by the Chinese government or private Chinese companies to identify our people as Chinese and willfully place PRC flags [on their photos] have severely hurt the feelings of Taiwanese. Such actions only drive both sides further apart and deepen animosity,” it said, urging the public to join the government in its condemnation of such moves.
Taiwan is proud to be a democratic country and it has never been a part of the PRC, the ministry said.
“The Chinese government tries to alter the identity of Taiwanese and deceive the international community, but it can never change the fact that it does not rule Taiwan,” it said.
Beijing has used several means to project that Taiwan is part of its territory, including forcing international airlines and corporations to list Taiwan as part of China on their Web sites.
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