Taiwanese Internet celebrity Chung Ming-hsuan (鍾明軒) yesterday said he had “cried the entire night” after learning that an attack against him was based on deliberate manipulation.
Chung made the remarks via a post on Facebook, citing a video released on Wednesday by Taiwanese rapper Mannam PYC (閩南狼), whose real name is Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), saying that his collaborator, YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯), or Wen Tzu-yu (溫子渝), had doctored footage to discredit him.
Chen and Wen had partnered since December last year to produce a series of videos exposing China’s “united front” tactics.
Photo: Screen grab from Chung’s Facebook page
Chen said Wen repeatedly urged him not to comment on the matter, adding that he withheld the unaltered footage to “protect him and his family.”
The rapper in Wednesday’s video said that one of the earlier videos he made with Wen featured Chung’s image during a segment in which Strait Herald assistant director Lin Jingdong (林靖東) outlined strategies used to influence young Taiwanese, including “incubating” them through Taiwan-related organizations and collaborating with small-scale influencers.
Chung attracted notoriety last year for posting a series of videos from a trip to China in which he repeatedly praised the infrastructure and described the country as “wonderful” and “safe.”
The trip went viral and drew criticism from Taiwanese online, who said he was echoing Chinese propaganda and mockingly labeled him “motherland beauty” (祖國美人).
Chung later said the backlash took a significant emotional and professional toll on him.
The Strait Herald is a newspaper based in the Chinese city of Xiamen.
Chen on Wednesday said that Lin does not know Chung and that Chung’s image was included in the video without any connection to him.
Chen said he had questioned whether the inclusion was appropriate, to which Wen allegedly replied: “I know how to influence opinions; this type of action requires one to be unscrupulous.”
Chen said he disagreed with Chung’s views, but also opposed failing to verify information and “sending people to the guillotines,” adding that it was at that point he began to question whether the video was truly about anti-communism, or if it was clickbait.
Wen at 3am on Thursday said that his YouTube series was intended to expose China’s efforts to spread its “united front” rhetoric, and was not a personal attack on any YouTuber mentioned in the video.
Chung said he had visited China to better understand the community, as both sides of the Taiwan Strait share linguistic, cultural and religious ties, adding that it was an exchange, not a pledge of loyalty to Beijing.
Chen released a separate video on YouTube on Sunday announcing that he was ending his collaboration with Wen, saying that Wen had become an extremist seeking to manipulate public opinion.
Chen said Lin had sought to emulate Nazi methods for inciting mass action during the recall campaigns, and proposed ahead of an April rally to introduce a Nazi-style salute, form a “stormtrooper unit” and scapegoat a group — as the Nazis did with “the Jews” — as part of a dramatic anti-communist display.
Lin apologized in a video on YouTube on Monday, saying the remarks were self-mocking comments made in a private conversation with friends.
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