(Bloomberg) — Taiwan accused China of acting like a bully after a beauty pageant contestant from the island was prevented from appearing at an event in Malaysia.
Most Read from Bloomberg
Kao Man-jung, Taiwan’s Miss Asia Global contender, can be seen crying in a video clip from the World Congress on Innovation & Technology in Penang that was posted online by former Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Karen Yu.
Yu, now a local informational technology official in Taiwan, wrote on Facebook that Kao was supposed to join the other competitors to wave the flags of their home nations as part of the congress’s opening ceremony Tuesday but was “banned by China” from going on stage, without providing details.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday it “strongly condemns China using every possible means to bully Taiwanese at international events.”
The incident “highlights how the totalitarian government of the Chinese Communist Party continues to oppress Taiwanese people with cruel acts and forces the international community to accept its one-sided claims and lies,” the ministry said. “The Taiwanese people have the right to show their own flag and their identity internationally.”
Beijing says Taiwan is its territory and tries to curtail the island’s presence on the world stage, for example by blocking its participation in the World Health Assembly. The government of President Tsai Ing-wen rejects China’s claims, works to expand Taiwan’s profile abroad and says the democracy deserves the support of the international community.
Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing nor the World Congress on Innovation & Technology responded to requests for comment.
In her Facebook post, Yu said Taiwan “must continue working hard with our friends in democratic countries and stand united.”
“China’s unreasonable suppression is unbearable for democratic countries, and we still have a long way to go,” she said.
(Updates with additional comments from Yu.)
Most Read from Bloomberg Businessweek
©2022 Bloomberg L.P.
