It also showed the interior of the Presidential Office Building, a large suite for the overnight stay, and tourists posing for photos with Taiwan’s military honor guards. Meanwhile, censors have quietly taken down the full video, in which Howard heaped praise on Taiwan for its hospitality, “great and friendly living environment” and “great diverse culture.” The hashtag “Howard Taiwan independence” became the top trending topic on Weibo on Friday morning, and garnered more than 400 million views by the afternoon. On Weibo, China’s Twitter-like platform, users accused Howard of supporting Taiwan independence and demanded an apology from him. The video sparked immediate furor in China after it was reposted on Chinese social media. “That’s why Taiwan is a free country,” Lai replied.įormer NBA star Dwight Howard shoots a promotional video for Taiwan with the democratic island's Vice President William Lai. When Lai told Howard international travelers can enjoy an overnight stay with breakfast at the Presidential Office Building, the basketball star exclaimed: “That is crazy! I don’t even know that’s legal in my country or not.” Howard appeared in the video alongside Taiwan Vice President William Lai, who has been nominated by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party as its candidate for the presidential election next year. The video, released Wednesday, is part of the island’s promotional campaign to invite foreign tourists to spend a night at the Presidential Office Building in Taipei. Under growing economic, diplomatic and military pressure from China, Taiwan has sought to promote its robust democratic system and free and open society to win friends internationally. The Taiwan issue is a central piece to Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s vision of “national rejuvenation,” a nationalistic agenda that has stoked cross-strait tensions to their highest in decades. Taiwan is a self-ruled democracy with its own military, currency, constitution and elected government, although it is not officially recognized as an independent country by most governments in the world.Ĭhina’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its own territory, despite having never controlled it, and has refused to rule out the use of force to “unify” the island with mainland China. This place makes me feel so much love,” Howard said in a two-minute online video. “Since I came to Taiwan, I’ve gained a whole new appreciation of this country. The 37-year-old eight-time NBA All-Star has enjoyed huge popularity in Taiwan since joining its professional team Taoyuan Leopards from the Los Angeles Lakers in November last year. Former NBA player Dwight Howard has become the latest international sports star to be caught in the crosshairs of Chinese nationalist wrath after he referred to Taiwan as a “country” in a promotional video alongside the democratic island’s vice president.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |