Taiwan’s government on Wednesday accused China of pressuring Malaysian tech event organizers to stop Taiwan’s beauty queen from waving the autonomous island’s flag on stage.
The incident occurred at the opening ceremony of the World Conference on Innovation and Technology (WCIT). During the ceremony, contestants of the Miss Asia Global Pageant greeted participants in their native languages and waved national flags on stage.
Karen Yu, director of the Taoyuan Information Technology Bureau, said Miss Taiwan Kao Man-jung was stopped by WCIT event handlers when she was ready to take the stage.
In a video Yu posted on Facebook, Kao was seen crying after being instructed by event organizers to remain in the audience.
Yu said Taiwanese representatives chanted “Taiwan Go” to let attendees know they would be attending Kao’s event.
According to Yu, WCIT organizers apologized to Kao and said they were told at the last minute not to bring her on stage. They didn’t specify the reason for the last-minute change, but Yu said, “We all know why.”
“China’s unreasonable repression is unbearable for democracies, and there is still a long way to go. We must continue to work hard with our friends in democracies,” Yu said.
China’s repression ‘disgust’ Taiwanese
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs later released a statement condemning China’s interference in the event and urged the Malaysian representative office to lodge a complaint against the event organizers.
“China put pressure on the Malaysian organizers to ban Kao from waving the national flag on stage,” he said, adding that China’s repression “only makes the people of Taiwan and the international community feel disgusted.” added.
The ministry expressed its support for Kao and urged other Taiwanese to speak for the island nation through their expertise on the international stage.
“Taiwan, the Republic of China, is a sovereign and independent democracy, and the people of Taiwan have the right to raise their national flag on the international stage,” he added.
Organizers are obliged to follow the one-China policy
WCIT Organizing Committee Chairman Sean Seah said the decision to ban Kao from waving the Taiwanese flag at the event was “strictly in accordance with Malaysia’s One China policy, which recognizes Taiwan as part of China. He said it was because he was there.
Seah said the WCIT is a national event, so Malaysia’s pledge to China must be respected. Malaysia she reached an agreement with the Chinese government in 1974 that China would admit that she had only one.
“By running such a global event, we are bound by guidelines. We cannot take any position on this,” Sia told local media Free Malaysia Today. .
The WCIT was held in Penang, Malaysia and ran until September 17th with thousands of delegates from 60 countries.
China sees Taiwan as a rebellious province that must reunite with the mainland. The Chinese Communist Party government launched its largest military exercises near Taiwan in August after U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island.
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Aldgra Fredly is a Malaysia-based freelance writer covering Asia Pacific news for The Epoch Times.
