At least eight K-pop stars from China and even one from Taiwan and one from Hong Kong have publicly stated their support for Beijing’s “one China” principle, eliciting a mixture of disappointment and understanding from fans.
Many of the statements came after protesters opposed to Beijing’s growing influence over semi-autonomous Hong Kong removed a Chinese flag and tossed it into Victoria Harbour earlier this month.
Taiwanese pop idol Lai Kuan-lin (賴冠霖), Lay Zhang (張藝興), Jackson Wang (王嘉爾) and Victoria Song (宋茜) were among the K-pop singers who have uploaded a Chinese flag and declared themselves as “one of 1.4 billion guardians of the Chinese flag” on their Weibo accounts.
Lai is a Taipei-born former member of South Korean boy band Wanna One. Wang is from Hong Kong.
In 2016, Taiwanese K-pop star Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜) made a public apology for waving a Taiwanese flag while appearing on a South Korean television show.
A Chinese vilification campaign against her led to a backlash among some Taiwanese, who at the time were amid a presidential election eventually won by Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who is despised by Beijing for her pro-independence stance.
Some see the public pronouncements as the latest examples of how celebrities and companies feel pressured to toe the line politically in the important Chinese market. Yet they also coincide with a surge in patriotism among young Chinese raised on a steady diet of pro-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) messaging.
Song and Zhang, a member of popular group EXO, have shown their Chinese pride on Instagram, in Song’s case uploading an image of the Chinese flag last week with the caption “Hong Kong is part of China forever.”
Such posts would only be seen by their international fans because Instagram, like most Western social media sites, is blocked by the CCP’s censors.
K-pop fans reacted swiftly to the avowals of allegiance to China. Some called it shameful, while others were more understanding.
Erika Ng, a 26-year-old Hong Kong fan of Jackson Wang, was not surprised by his statement.
He “values the China market more than the Hong Kong market” because of his large presence in the mainland, she said.
Wang, a member of the group Got7, used to carry a Hong Kong flag and wear a hat with the territory’s symbol, a bauhinia flower.
Lately, he has been carrying a Chinese flag on his concert tour and was wearing a China flag hoodie in his music video.
Ellyn Bukvich, a 26-year-old American who has been an EXO fan for five years, said many young fans will probably support Zhang and his message because of his status as a K-pop idol.
“It’s spreading propaganda and it’s very effective,” Bukvich said.
The “one China” principle maintains that there is only one Chinese government and is a key diplomatic point accepted by most nations in the world, including the US.
It is mostly aimed at democratic Taiwan, which Beijing sees as a breakaway province to be united with China by force if necessary.
In the case of Hong Kong, a former British colony handed back to Chinese control in 1997, Beijing maintains a “one country, two systems” policy, in which the territory is guaranteed greater freedoms than those in China until 2047.
The Chinese government and entirely state-controlled media have consistently portrayed the Hong Kong protest movement as an effort by criminals trying to split the territory from China, backed by hostile foreigners.
International brands — from fashion companies to airlines — have in the past been compelled to make public apologies for perceived breaches of that policy, such as listing Taiwan and Hong Kong as separate countries on their Web sites or T-shirts.
Zhang last week terminated his partnership with Samsung Electronics, accusing the South Korean mobile giant of damaging China’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
The statement in a Weibo post was prompted by Samsung having separate language options for users in Taiwan, Hong Kong and China on its global Web site.
Taiwan and Hong Kong use traditional Chinese characters instead of the simplified ones used in China, and Hong Kong also has English as an official language.
Samsung declined to comment on whether it will continue to provide different language options for Taiwan and Hong Kong.
It can be difficult to know whether loyalty vows to Beijing are heartfelt or for commercial reasons. The past is littered with examples of celebrities, both Chinese and foreign, who saw their business in China destroyed after the CCP objected to a statement or an action.
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