The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday rejected an application for a concert in Taiwan by Chinese hip-hop musician Wang Yitai (王以太) after finding that the event organizer had sold tickets without permission and that the artist’s promotional content read: “Next stop: Taipei, China,” an official familiar with the matter said.
What would have been Wang’s first concert in Taiwan, titled “Love Me Later,” was scheduled for Sept. 14 at Legacy Max in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), organizer Mercury Entertainment said.
Mercury Entertainment said it began selling tickets online on July 1 for NT$2,900 each, as well as merchandise, and that the tickets were already sold out.
Photo: Screen grab from Xiaohongshu
Promotional content on the online ticketing site said that Wang was a member of rap collective CDC and one of the top six finalists in the 2018 The Rap of China competition.
He later participated in music programs such as I Am a Singer-Songwriter and Our Band. In 2022, Wang and his team, performing under the name “One Seat,” won the championship in the “China Rap Summit Showdown,” the ticketing site said.
“In 2024, Wang Yitai will embark on a tour with his third new solo album, Love Me Later, and will hold his first solo concert in Taipei on Sept. 14, promising to create the most explosive hip-hop stage with his fans,” it said.
In rejecting the application, the council found that in Wang’s promotional content for his album he had used the wording “Next stop: Taipei, China,” belittling Taiwan’s status. He also shot a series of promotional photos, including one that features a station sign that reads: “Beijing South Station,” and indicates a route between Beijing and “Taipei, China.”
The council also cited Mercury Entertainment’s failure to apply for approval before selling tickets as part of the reason for the rejection.
The organizer did not submit the required information until July 10, more than a week later than the date they started selling tickets, it said.
The official said that the government does not need to grant approval just because tickets have been sold.
ACCESS DENIAL: Beijing would likely take formation in the Philippine Sea, outside Taipei’s missile range, while its forces on the east would be a deterrent to foreign aid China is increasingly likely to employ a strategy of anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) around Taiwan, which would use three carrier groups, a report from the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. When China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is completed next year, China would have three carriers, which would likely be used to surround Taiwan and implement an A2/AD strategy, it said, adding that efforts to strengthen China’s two other carriers — the Liaoning and the Shandong — appear to corroborate this. In the quarterly report, the council cited declassified documents from the Ministry of National Defense that categorized China’s carriers as
Two German warships are awaiting orders from Berlin to determine whether they would be the first German naval vessels in decades to pass through the Taiwan Strait next month, at the risk of stoking tensions with Beijing, a German commander said. While the US and other nations, including Canada, have sent warships through the narrow strait in recent weeks, it would be the German navy’s first passage through the Strait since 2002. China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, and says it has jurisdiction over the nearly 180km waterway that divides the two sides. Taiwan strongly objects to these claims, saying only its people
Former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley yesterday called for more international backing for Taiwan and a coordinated pushback against China’s claims over the nation. “The United States should elevate Taiwan on the world stage. You should no longer be silenced in global affairs,” Haley told an audience at the Ketagalan Forum, a Taipei conference focused on security issues in the Asia-Pacific region. She called for Taiwan to become a full member of the UN, even though it is being blocked by China from representation in international bodies. While the US does not formally recognize Taiwan, it is the nation's strongest
China sent 50 military planes and vessels to the vicinity of Taiwan in the 24 hours starting at 6am on Friday, while President William Lai (賴清德) was visiting Kinmen for the first time since taking office in May to mark the 66th anniversary of the 823 Artillery Bombardment. Flight paths released yesterday by the Ministry of National Defense showed that 38 military aircraft were detected in Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the highest number recorded in recent weeks. The figure included 32 that crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or its extension. Of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft