Internet celebrity Holger Chen (陳之漢) yesterday concluded a six-day, five-night visit to Shanghai, responding to extensive media coverage in Taiwan by saying that he had paid for the trip with his own money.
Chen said he "never degraded Taiwan, never said Taiwan was not good," despite accusations that he belittled his country of birth by praising China.
Some of his critics focused on financial gain because they "didn't know what to say," the celebrity gym owner said.
Photo: CNA
He did not engage in business discussions on the trip, Chen said, adding that he does hope for commercial opportunities in China.
Chen arrived in Shanghai on Tuesday last week, saying that he aimed to act as an "ambassador of peace" and encourage more cross-strait exchanges during his first trip to the country.
He also pledged to livestream the entire trip to his large following in Taiwan — a move that Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Minister Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said could not have been done without permission from the Chinese authorities.
However, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said on Wednesday that Chen traveled to Shanghai on his own.
Taiwanese, including Internet celebrities such as Chen, were welcome to experience China's food, convenient transportation and quality goods, she said.
Hundreds of thousands of people in Taiwan watched Chen's livestreams as he traveled around China and interacted with locals.
At one point, Chen did not directly respond when asked "What country are you from?" — a potentially awkward question for Taiwanese to answer in China, as Beijing claims the nation as part of its territory.
Taiwanese media also criticized Chen for praising China, including the "good infrastructure and trendy elements" of Shanghai Pudong International Airport — comments he said were "taken out of context.”
Other comments Chen made perplexed many viewers, such as his statement that a milk tea in Taiwan can cost as much as NT$800.
Chen said that he has previously harbored strong animosity toward China and never expected to visit, but recent online information differed from his past perceptions, prompting him to self-fund the trip to "show the truth to everyone."
Chen is no stranger to politics. He has previously voiced support for the Democratic Progressive Party and the Taiwan People's Party (TPP) under former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
Upon arrival at Shanghai Airport on June 10, Chen said he aimed to expose the "lies" spread by the DPP, which was using "fear of China" as an election strategy.
Despite praising China while visiting the country, Chen said he has always believed Taiwan is "number one."
"I'm Taiwanese, how could I belittle Taiwan?" he asked.
The inspection equipment and data transmission system for new robotic dogs that Taipei is planning to use for sidewalk patrols were developed by a Taiwanese company, the city’s New Construction Office said today, dismissing concerns that the China-made robots could pose a security risk. The city is bringing in smart robotic dogs to help with sidewalk inspections, Taipei Deputy Mayor Lee Ssu-chuan (李四川) said on Facebook. Equipped with a panoramic surveillance system, the robots would be able to automatically flag problems and easily navigate narrow sidewalks, making inspections faster and more accurate, Lee said. By collecting more accurate data, they would help Taipei
TAKING STOCK: The USMC is rebuilding a once-abandoned airfield in Palau to support large-scale ground operations as China’s missile range grows, Naval News reported The US Marine Corps (USMC) is considering new sites for stockpiling equipment in the West Pacific to harden military supply chains and enhance mobility across the Indo-Pacific region, US-based Naval News reported on Saturday. The proposed sites in Palau — one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — and Australia would enable a “rapid standup of stored equipment within a year” of the program’s approval, the report said, citing documents published by the USMC last month. In Palau, the service is rebuilding a formerly abandoned World War II-era airfield and establishing ancillary structures to support large-scale ground operations “as China’s missile range and magazine
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
A 72-year-old man in Kaohsiung was sentenced to 40 days in jail after he was found having sex with a 67-year-old woman under a slide in a public park on Sunday afternoon. At 3pm on Sunday, a mother surnamed Liang (梁) was with her child at a neighborhood park when they found the man, surnamed Tsai (蔡), and woman, surnamed Huang (黃), underneath the slide. Liang took her child away from the scene, took photographs of the two and called the police, who arrived and arrested the couple. During questioning, Tsai told police that he had met Huang that day and offered to
RSS