A China-based Taiwanese singer who drew public ire after criticizing a Taiwanese K-pop singer for waving a Republic of China (ROC) flag said he would hold a news conference in Taiwan on Feb. 3 to tell his side of the story.
Huang An (黃安) accused 16-year-old Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the Taiwanese member of the South Korean girl band TWICE, of supporting Taiwanese independence after she waved an ROC flag on a South Korean TV show.
The tip-off led to widespread criticizm of Chou in China.
An endorsement deal her group had with Chinese smartphone maker Huawei was jeopardized by Chou’s so-called pro-Taiwanese independence attitude.
Chou apologized to her management company JYP Entertainment and her Chinese and Taiwanese fans in a video released on YouTube on Friday, saying: “There is only one China... I have always felt proud of being Chinese.”
Park Jin-young, head of JYP Entertainment, also apologized.
The incident caused outrage among Taiwanese, who saw it as China bullying a teenager who was waving her nation’s flag.
The incident might have boosted president-elect Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) votes by 1 to 2 percentage points in Saturday’s election, said Michael Hsiao (蕭新煌), a research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of Sociology.
Huang wrote on Weibo on Sunday that he was not the culprit in the incident, saying that he was “lucky to become” a singer who could influence “Taiwan’s election.”
He said he would explain “the whole story” behind the incident and present the truth.
Huang said in a Weibo post on Monday last week that he was not associating waving the ROC flag with Taiwan independence, but the issue was what the person waving the flag stood for.
Pro-independence Taiwanese media were using the incident to manufacture provocative headlines to incite Chinese, Huang said, adding that Chou must be working with them unless she says otherwise.
There are many people who could trigger sensitive issues between China and Taiwan, since almost everyone has a Facebook account, former Mainland Affairs Council chairman and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Lawmaker Su Chi (蘇起) said on Sunday.
People should remain calm and set their sights on the common good when dealing with issues regarding cross-strait relations, Su said.
Several Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials including Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) are to be summoned for questioning and then transferred to prosecutors for holding an illegal assembly in Taipei last night, the Taipei Police said today. Chu and two others hosted an illegal assembly and are to be requested to explain their actions, the Taipei City Police Department's Zhongzheng (中正) First Precinct said, referring to a protest held after Huang Lu Chin-ju (黃呂錦茹), KMT Taipei's chapter director, and several other KMT staffers were questioned for alleged signature forgery in recall petitions against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators. Taipei prosecutors had filed
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
NEW WORLD: Taiwan is pursuing innovative approaches to international relations through economics, trade and values-based diplomacy, the foreign minister said Taiwan would implement a “three-chain strategy” that promotes democratic values in response to US tariffs, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said. Taiwan would aim to create a “global democratic value chain,” seek to capitalize on its position within the first island chain and promote a “non-red supply chain,” Lin was quoted as saying in the ministry’s written report to the Legislative Yuan submitted ahead of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee meeting slated for today. The Ministry would also uphold a spirit of mutual beneficial collaboration, maintaining close communication and consultations with Washington to show that Taiwan-US cooperation
Taiwan and the US have begun trade negotiations over tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump earlier this month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said in an interview this morning before reporting to the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), Taiwan’s de facto embassy in the US, has already established communication channels with the US Department of State and the US Trade Representative (USTR), and is engaging in intensive consultations, he said. Points of negotiation include tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and issues related to investment, procurement and export controls, he