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On Wednesday, Taipei claimed that China had exerted pressure on event organizers in Malaysia to forbid a Taiwanese beauty queen from raising the island’s flag on stage. During the opening session of the 2022 World Congress on Innovation and Technology (WCIT) on Tuesday, Miss Taiwan Kao Man-jung was captured on camera sobbing as other competitors in a beauty pageant took the stage, according to Taiwanese officials. Taiwan’s foreign ministry said that “China persuaded the Malaysian organizers to forbid Miss Kao from raising our national flag on stage,” adding that it had directed its representative office in Malaysia to make a formal complaint to the organizers.
Beijing sees the autonomous, democratic island as a piece of its territory that can one day be taken by force. It boils at any international acknowledgment of Taiwan and frequently reacts angrily when foreign celebrities or international events flaunt its flag.
Such repression, according to Taiwan’s foreign ministry, “would only offend Taiwanese people and the global community even more” and Beijing was using “vile actions,” it claimed.
Kao was reportedly stopped just before entering the stage, according to Taiwanese media, while other competitors could be seen hoisting national flags.
The WCIT has been contacted by AFP for comment.
Celebrities who have displayed the flag of Taiwan, which Beijing considers as a sign of support for the island’s independence, have in the past drawn ire in China, notably US pop icons Madonna and Katy Perry.
A young Taiwanese K-pop star was compelled to apologise in 2016 after being accused of advocating independence and inciting resentment in China by raising the flag during an online broadcast.
On the day of Taiwan’s presidential election of 2016 in which Tsai Ing-wen was easily elected as the island’s first female president, her video apology went viral.
Because her government does not view the island as a part of China, China cut off all connections with Taiwan after she won and has increased military pressure.
