Three of the 23 Taiwanese entertainers who had reposted “united front” statements by Chinese state-run China Central Television (CCTV) on social media were identified to have dual nationality, an official said yesterday.
When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) conducted its “Joint Sword-2024B” military drills around Taiwan last year, a number of Taiwanese entertainers shared a CCTV post that claimed “Taiwan is territorially part of China since time immemorial” and that “there is only one China.”
When Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) in March trivialized Taiwan as “Taiwan, Province of China,” dozens of Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), reposted a CCTV post that said Taiwan “must be returned” to China.
Photo: screen grab from Shu Qi’s Sina Weibo account
The Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture launched an investigation into the entertainers, sending missives to their talent agencies or agents asking them to clarify why they engaged in political propaganda in support of the CCP.
Some of the entertainers’ representatives replied that they did not realize they were reposting CCP propaganda or they did not mean to cause harm with their posts, the council said.
It added that no penalties would be issued, only warnings.
Nevertheless, on Wednesday last week when the CCP staged a massive military parade in Beijing, some entertainers, including musician Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜), actress Shu Qi (舒淇) and actor Wu Kang-ren (吳慷仁), touted “China’s victory over Japan in World War II,” using more “euphemistic” language, without advocating directly for the forceful annexation of Taiwan.
Some of the statements used phrases such as “immortal martyrs, forever peace,” and “may the fatherland thrive in wealth and prosperity.”
An official with knowledge of the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that the investigations were focused on whether the entertainers’ reposts downgraded the status of the Republic of China, attempted to degrade the nation’s sovereignty or called for resolving cross-strait issues by force.
Phrases used by the entertainers in their posts on the parade day deliberately avoided those three points, they said.
Of the 23 entertainers whose representatives have received the ministry’s missive, 11 have yet to reply to the government, while three have dual citizenship, including one who is Canadian, they said.
The ministry has sent another missive requiring the 11 entertainers to provide an explanation of their actions before a deadline, they said.
They would be considered to have relinquished their right to defend themselves on the matter if they fail to reply in time, the official said.
Hung Pu-chao (洪浦釗), deputy director of the Center for Mainland China and Regional Development Research at Tunghai University, said that Beijing deliberately pressured Taiwanese entertainers to express support on special occasions, such as during major parades, Chinese National Day, Victory over Japan Day or “Taiwan Retrocession Day.”
Beijing’s goal is to create an atmosphere in which people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait are united and celebrating together, which is a brazen, planned “united front” tactic, he said.
“Taiwanese entertainers were used not only for ‘united front’ work, but also as a fig leaf for the autocratic regime,” Hung said.
They were actually endorsing Chinese political propaganda when they sang along to nationalist songs, he said.
However, Beijing would mischaracterize critical remarks from Taiwanese about such endorsements as “oppressing freedom of artistic expression,” he said.
Whether Taiwanese entertainers willingly or were coerced to make pro-China statements, their posts would be turned into screenshots and remade into “united front” assets for further dissemination, as they can be reframed as showing that “Taiwanese compatriots are loyal to the fatherland” to drum up nationalist sentiment, he said.
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