Although they are not Taiwanese, Ao Bo (敖博) and Duan Xinjun (段信軍), both members of the Chinese rock band PunkGod (盤古), were forced into exile four years ago for supporting Taiwanese independence.
“Independence should be a basic right for everyone — each should be able to think and live as an independent person in a society,” Ao said in an interview with the Taipei Times at a small hotel in Taipei, where the pair has been staying since their arrival in Taiwan.
The band is presently on tour here.
PHOTO: LOA IOK-SIN, TAIPEI TIMES
“Based on the same idea, we believe that every people or region in the world deserves to become independent if they so wish,” Ao said.
“There are 23 million people in Taiwan, there are countless Taiwanese around the world. In there minds, there’s only one homeland and that’s Taiwan,” PunkGod says in its song Soul of Taiwan.
“Big China, that’s big massacre. Unification, that’s destruction. Unification, that’s extinction. Independence, it’s life. Independence, that’s victory. Taiwan is its own country,” another song, titled Taiwan is its own country, says.
PunkGod does not only support Taiwanese independence, as “we have songs that support Tibetan and Chechen independence movements as well,” Ao said.
PunkGod has been very critical of Chinese society and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) since the band formed in 1996.
“We were actually just some kids from a small town on the outskirt of Nanchang [南昌], Jiangxi Province, who like music and hang out together,” Ao said.
“In 1996, a couple of friends and I decided to form our own band and we made the kitchen at a friend’s house our ‘studio,’” he said, smiling. “So I always tell people we’re a band that started out in a kitchen.”
As the original band members and their friends issued from workers’ or low-level public servants’ families, “our song lyrics were often critical of the unfair treatment we received,” Ao said.
From initial complaints about the injustice around them, PunkGod began to criticize the CCP and advocate for human rights and freedom.
Gradually, with their daring words, the band gained popularity with underground rock fans across China.
“The [Chinese] government didn’t say anything publicly, but we could feel the invisible pressure,” Ao said. “For example, our CDs could not pass censorship laws to be released legally in China.”
Consequently, PunkGod’s first album was released by a Hong Kong-based record company and smuggled into China, Ao said.
While the Chinese government tolerated the band to a certain extent, PunkGod crossed a line when it performed at the 2004 “Say Yes to Taiwan” concert on Feb 28, where Ao shouted: “Independence for Taiwan” on stage.
The first bad news came as Ao and Duan were on a stopover in Bangkok later that year on their way back to China.
“On the day before we were to fly back to China, I received a call from a friend in China,” Duan said. “My friend told us that state security officials had talked to several people close to us and asked us to stay in Bangkok for a while, just to be safe.”
A few days later, Ao and Duan were informed that their families and friends were all under surveillance and that their properties had been confiscated.
“We immediately contacted Freddy Lim [林昶佐] and through him received help from human rights groups in Taiwan, Thailand and elsewhere,” Duan said.
Lim is the lead vocalist of the Taiwanese heavy metal band Chthonic and the organizer of the 2008 “Say Yes to Taiwan” rock festival.
Within eight months, Ao and Duan received political asylum in Sweden and began their life in exile.
The experience did not scare the pair off. Rather, it encouraged them to produce more music that challenges the Chinese government.
They recently released a song titled Taiwanese Youth, which warns young people in Taiwan to be aware of China’s ambitions and to fight back.
“Otherwise, you will become enslaved by the Chinese,” the last line in the song says.
Another new title, Tibetan Youth, tells young Tibetans to “rise up and fight” for “your ancestors, for your own dignity, for your people and for your brothers and sisters.”
“We want to be the child who says out loud that the emperor has no clothes,” Ao said. “But aside from telling the truth, we also want to overthrow the emperor,” he said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as