Two weeks ago, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) raised hackles in Taiwan by posting to her 2.6 million Instagram followers that she was visiting “Taipei, China.” Yeoh’s post continues a long-standing trend of Chinese propaganda that spreads disinformation about Taiwan’s political status and geography, aimed at deceiving the world into supporting its illegitimate claims to Taiwan, which is not and has never been part of China.
Taiwan must respond to this blatant act of cognitive warfare. Failure to respond merely cedes ground to China to continue its efforts to conquer Taiwan in the global consciousness to justify an invasion. Taiwan’s government should announce a lifetime ban on entry into the country for Yeoh and there should be a prohibition on government-backed agencies funding films or productions involving Yeoh. The Motion Picture Development Foundation should seriously consider disqualifying any films starring Yeoh from eligibility for the Golden Horse Awards.
These consequences might seem severe, but they are entirely necessary if Taiwan is serious about defending its national sovereignty.
This month, President William Lai (賴清德) delivered a major address on defending national security and countering China’s “united front” efforts at eroding Taiwan’s sovereignty. Lai laid out 17 major strategies, including countering China’s efforts to erase Taiwan from the international community, and responding to China’s pressuring of Taiwanese entertainers to post statements supporting a Chinese takeover of Taiwan.
When several Taiwanese entertainers posted on Chinese social media platforms their endorsements of China’s illegal claims to Taiwan, the Mainland Affairs Council announced investigations into their conduct, raising the prospect of serious penalties for conspiring with Beijing to undermine Taiwan’s national sovereignty.
Yet while the issue of Taiwanese entertainers betraying their country is serious within Taiwan, it is of relatively low importance to the global contest of narratives over Taiwanese sovereignty. These entertainers, most of whom live and make their money in China, posted in Chinese on a Web site only used in China — the impact of the posts changed no minds over Taiwan’s sovereignty dispute. Absolutely no content is allowed anywhere on the Chinese Internet suggesting that Taiwan is anything but a Chinese province, and almost no one in China doubts that Taiwan belongs to China, a result of generations of brainwashing propaganda and falsified history.
Meanwhile, the global English-language Internet and media remain major sites of contest of narratives over Taiwan’s status.
If Lai is serious about combating China’s political warfare, then Taipei must not fail to confront Beijing’s attacks on the world stage. Taiwan’s banning of a major movie star would certainly make international headlines and convey to the world that Taiwan is a sovereign state whose people oppose annexation by China. An entry ban would confirm that Taiwan has control of its own borders, a fact China works hard to obscure and obfuscate through its disinformation campaigns.
Actors and celebrities would learn that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of China. These celebrities visit this beautiful country and profit off business opportunities here, but these privileges must be denied to those who seek to undermine the country’s very existence.
Fighting back against China’s use of its economic might to marginalize Taiwan is no easy feat, but it must be done on all fronts. The Lai administration must start by taking immediate action to ban Yeoh from the country.
Sasha B. Chhabra is a visiting fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei.
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