Politicians across party lines yesterday expressed regret that many Taiwanese singers and entertainers have been forced to make pro-China statements.
President William Lai (賴清德) on Monday said in his inaugural speech that Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to one another.
“Taiwan is not a country and will never be a country. Taiwanese independence is the road toward destruction... China will eventually actualize a full unification,” China Central Television wrote on Sina Weibo on Wednesday.
Photo courtesy of B’in Music
Taiwanese entertainers Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) shared the post on Sina Weibo and both said: “Taiwan will certainly be unified with the motherland.”
As of Friday, more than 45 other Taiwanese, including singers Angela Chang (張韶涵), Rainie Yang (楊丞琳), Kenji Wu (吳克群) and actors Darren Wang (王大陸) and Jiro Wang (汪東城), had also shared the CCTV post.
Taiwanese band Mayday’s (五月天) lead singer, Ashin (阿信), on Friday during a show in Beijing said: “We Chinese definitely have Peking duck when in Beijing.”
Photo: Screen grab from Sina Weibo
At a concert in Nanchang, China, on Friday, Taiwanese singer Jolin Tsai (蔡依林) said: “Our Chinese [brethren] in Nanchang are the most passionate.”
Taiwanese singer Cyndi Wang (王心凌), also on tour in China, shared a Sina Weibo post by China’s People’s Daily stating that “Taiwan independence is the road toward destruction,” and said “I am a part of the zhonghua minzu (中華民族, ethnic Chinese group).”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) yesterday said the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has run out of moves to make and can only hope to influence Taiwan through its entertainers.
Wu said she believed that these artists and entertainers were politically coerced, adding: “Our greatest enemy is the CCP, not these artists and entertainers.”
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁), also from the DPP, urged China to respect performers’ freedom of speech, not force them to “take a side.”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lee Yan-hsiu (李彥秀) expressed regret and said the move was not helpful in encouraging goodwill across the Strait.
It was evident that the entertainers were forced to make the statements as a result of Lai’s inaugural address, she said.
KMT Legislator Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄) urged China to restrain itself and called on both sides to relaunch cross-strait talks and “leave music to music.”
The Taiwan People’s Party in a statement said it condemned all acts that constrain the development of music, arts and culture, urging Beijing to respect performers, and not to harm cross-strait relations by coercing the entertainers to make public political stance.
Separately, Golden Horse Award-winning actor Mo Tzu-yi (莫子儀) on Facebook on Friday urged people “to together protect the nation and the people’s democracy.”
Alluding to the recent controversy surrounding legislative reforms, he said discussions and following procedure are key to resolving political differences.
“No one can be sure how long we can safeguard our hard-won democracy and freedom,” he said.
Some of the people who commented said his post set him apart from other Taiwanese artists who made political statements in favor of China.
Additional reporting by Chiu Yi-chin
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
RSS