British pianist Brendan Kavanagh on Monday held up Taiwan’s national flag during a livestream after having an altercation with a group of Chinese last month.
When Kavanagh, who goes by the name Dr K Boogie Woogie on social media, was recording a livestream from St Pancras International station in London on Jan. 19, a group of Chinese standing in the background loudly insisted that they not be filmed, saying their portrait rights should be protected.
The Chinese, who were holding Chinese flags when the incident occured, said that they would take legal action if their faces and voices were shown online.
Photo: Screen grab from Brendan Kavanagh’s Facebook page
Kavanagh refused to listen, saying the station is a public place.
“We are in a free country, we can film where we want,” he said.
The public piano Kavanagh played, donated by Elton John, was later cordoned off by British authorities due to the incident, he wrote on Facebook on Jan. 25.
After the piano was reopened to the public, Kavanagh held up Taiwan’s flag during a livestream at the station on Monday, saying: “I’m supporting Taiwan.”
Kavanagh then posted a photograph on Facebook of him standing on the piano stool holding up the flag.
It received supportive messages from Taiwanese and others, including Democratic Progressive Party Taipei City Councilor Vincent Chao (趙怡翔), who wrote: “Keep fighting the good fight!”
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) wrote that “The ROC [republic of China] flag symbolizes liberty, equality and philanthropy,” and Kaohsiung Department of Tourism director-general Kao Min-lin (高閔琳) thanked Kavanagh for his support.
“Awesome to see friends demonstrating support for #Taiwan in the #UK & giving a shout-out to our peace-loving people,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) wrote on X yesterday.
Wu invited Kavanagh to visit Taiwan “to celebrate love for music & freedom of expression in a place where #China ALSO holds zero jurisdiction!”
Hsiao said that the ministry welcomes people from all over the world who support democracy and freedom to support Taiwan.
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS