Taiwanese singer and songwriter Deserts Chang (張懸) has announced the cancelation of a Beijing concert originally scheduled for Dec. 30, following a row over her display of a Republic of China (ROC) flag at a concert earlier this month in Manchester, England.
“We have decided to suspend the long-planned concert in consideration of performance quality, and the rights and safety of concertgoers,” Chang’s agent, Tsai Yu-ching (蔡玉青), wrote on the singer’s Facebook page.
Tsai said that “an unexpected episode” — an apparent reference to the flag incident — has led to implications that have distorted the singer’s simple desire to embrace creativity and an exchange of ideas.
Photo: CNA
Stressing that Chang and her team highly value feedback from all walks of life, Tsai wrote that they would be happy to exchange views in the hopes of bringing about a breakthrough in exchanges and engagement.
The announcement follows speculation that the concert would be called off following the Nov. 2 display of the ROC flag.
Chang waved the flag on stage at a concert at the University of Manchester and introduced it as her country’s flag after it was given to her by a Taiwanese member of the audience.
The episode descended into sometimes vicious exchanges between Internet users on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, while major Chinese and Hong Kong entertainment media outlets have given the matter extensive coverage.
The post on Chang’s Facebook page had collected more than 12,000 “likes” and more than 700 comments within three hours of it being posted.
Most of the comments were by Taiwanese fans supportive of the artist, as Facebook is blocked in China.
A subsidiary of a Hong Kong-based company that has lost control of two critical ports on the Panama Canal said it is seeking US$2 billion of compensation in damages from Panama over its “illegal” takeover of the ports. Panama Ports Co, a unit of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison Holdings (長江和記實業), on Friday said in a statement that it is demanding the sum under international arbitration proceedings that it had already started. The Panamanian government last week seized control of the Balboa and Cristobal ports on each end of the Panama Canal, after the country’s Supreme Court declared earlier that a concession allowing
DETERRENCE: With 1,000 indigenous Hsiung Feng II and III missiles and 400 Harpoon missiles, the nation would boast the highest anti-ship missile density in the world With Taiwan wrapping up mass production of Hsiung Feng II and III missiles by December and an influx of Harpoon missiles from the US, Taiwan would have the highest density of anti-ship missiles in the world, a source said yesterday. Taiwan is to wrap up mass production of the indigenous anti-ship missiles by the end of year, as the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has been meeting production targets ahead of schedule, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said. Combined with the 400 Harpoon anti-ship missiles Taiwan expects to receive from the US by 2028, the nation would have
POSSIBILITIES EMERGE: With Taiwan’s victory and Japan’s narrow win over Australia, Taiwan now have a chance to advance if South Korea also beat the Aussies Taiwan has high hopes that the national baseball team would advance to the World Baseball Classic (WBC) quarter-finals after clinching a crucial 5-4 victory over South Korea in a nail-biting extra-inning game at the Tokyo Dome yesterday. Boosted by three home runs — two solo shots by Yu Chang (張育成) and Cheng Tsung-che (鄭宗哲) and a two-run homer by Stuart Fairchild — the triumph gave Taiwan a much-needed second victory in the five-team Pool C, where only the top two finishers would advance to the knockout stage in Miami, Florida. Entering extra innings with the game tied at four apiece, Taiwan scored
MISSION OF PEACE: The foreign minister urged Beijing to respect Taiwan’s existence as an independent nation, and work together to ensure peace and stability in the region Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday rejected Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi’s (王毅) comments about Taiwan, criticizing China as a “troublemaker” in the international community and a disruptor of cross-strait peace. Speaking at a news conference on the sidelines of the Chinese National People’s Congress, Wang said that Taiwan has always been a territory of China and that it would be impossible for it to become its own country. The “return” of Taiwan to China was the natural outcome of the Chinese people’s resistance against Japan in World War II, and that any pursuit of independence was “doomed
RSS