The Ministry of Culture said it regretted that Taiwanese actor Leon Dai (戴立忍) had been replaced in a Chinese film and urged for artists’ freedom of expression to be respected.
The lead actor in the film No Other Love (沒有別的愛), directed by Chinese actress Zhao Wei (趙薇), Dai was removed from the production by its investors over vague positions on whether “Taiwan is part of China” and whether he believes he is Chinese.
“Freedom of artistic expression and creativity should not be censored for political reasons,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that cultural interaction between China and Taiwan should set aside controversies and respect artists and workers in the entertainment industry.
The movie’s production team on Friday said on Sina Weibo why Dai was removed from the movie.
“Following Dai’s initial statement, the director and investors both expressed hope that he could provide a fuller explanation to the public and state his stance more clearly on important issues, but because Dai remained vague on his stance, the director and investors decided to replace Dai as the lead actor,” the team said.
Chinese entertainment companies have taken a hard-line on Taiwanese performers with political leanings they or their customers do not approve of before, especially performers who have supported Taiwanese independence.
Dai said on his Weibo account on Friday that he had “never joined any political party nor any political organization” and he had “never supported Taiwanese independence.”
However, he said he supported the decision to replace him in the movie and he apologized to investors and the crew for the controversies created by his past.
Online campaigns in China to boycott the movie based on the political stances of some actors also in the movie emerged after the production team announced the cast in late April.
The campaigns gathered steam after Zhao posted a photograph on Weibo of her and the cast, including Dai, when filming wrapped up late last month.
On June 30, Dai, 49, posted on Weibo that he had expressed his concerns on many issues in Taiwan, such as the forced demolition of private homes, gay rights and nuclear power, but he had not joined any political party.
On the same day, the film’s production team said on Weibo that it supported Dai in protecting his reputation and would have its lawyers protect Zhao from online censure and defamation.
However, after the Chinese Communist Youth League of China Central and the Zhonguo Guofangbao (the Chinese People’s Liberation Army newspaper) started to exaggerate the controversy, online campaigns opposing Dai went viral.
On Monday last week, Zhao said on Weibo that Dai had worked in the film industry for many years and cooperated with many professionals in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China adding that he was not a supporter of Taiwanese independence.
However, Zhao changed her position on Friday, saying that “whether on people or issues, attitudes can not be vague.”
Dai is also an acclaimed director, whose 2009 film No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (不能沒有你, “Cannot Live Without You”) adopted from a true story of a father’s fight for the custody of his child, won him the best director award at both the Golden Horse Awards and the Asia-Pacific Film Festival that year.
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