The ongoing tensions between Taiwan and China escalate every now and then. None, however, have felt the ripple effects of the conflict more so than the people of the island itself.
Recently, the organisers of the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Congress on Innovation and Technology (WCIT) prevented a Taiwanese beauty queen, Kao Man-Jung, from going onstage to wave the region’s flag. This caused her to burst into tears.
The organisers apologised to her after the incident. However, they have backed their decision, attributing it to presiding guidelines over global events.
On 13 Sep, Karen Yu Wan-Ju, a Taiwanese politician, posted footage of the incident on Facebook.
Source: Facebook
She was in attendance at WCIT in Malaysia, alongside all contestants of the Miss Asia Global beauty pageant. Every participant, she said, went on stage to wave their country’s flag.
However, when it was Ms Kao’s turn, the event organiser stopped her in her tracks.
Ms Kao had to remain backstage and learned that she could not wave her flag due to China’s territorial claim over Taiwan.
Source: Facebook
She was later seen wiping her tears away, which Ms Yu captured in the video.
In addition, the attendees from Taiwan chanted slogans such as “Taiwan, Go!” to support Ms Kao, even if she was absent from the stage.
Following the incident, Ms Yu approached Ms Kao and comforted her, with the WCIT organiser apologising as well.
According to AFP, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has slammed WCIT organisers for preventing Ms Kao from waving her flag.
“China pressured the Malaysian organisers to ban Miss Kao from holding our national flag on stage,” MOFA said in a statement.
The ministry added that their representative office in Malaysia would be lodging a formal complaint with WCIT.
However, the organisers have defended their decision to bar Ms Kao from the stage. They said the need to abide by the One-China policy, which describes Taiwan as part of China, left their hands tied.
Speaking to Free Malaysia Today (FMT), Sean Seah, the organising chairman of WCIT, stated,
Malaysia strictly follows the one-China policy, and since this is a national event, we are obliged to follow and protect the country’s pledge in supporting the policy.
Running an international event like WCIT also meant they had to adhere to guidelines. “We are unable to take any position on this,” he told FMT.
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Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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