Canada's China-born Miss World contestant, Anastasia Lin, was stopped in Hong Kong on Nov. 26, Thursday, and denied permission to board a flight to China, where she was supposed to attend the 65th annual Miss World contest that was scheduled on the southern Chinese island of Hainan this week.
The 25-year-old has been denied a Chinese visa to attend the month-long pageant, apparently because of her outspoken advocacy for human rights and religious freedom in China. After waiting in vain for weeks, the beauty queen boarded a flight to Hong Kong in hope to obtain an on-demand visa at the border.
Lin was seemingly banking on the fact that Canadian citizens have the right to obtain a landing visa upon arrival in Sanya, where the competition was already in progress. However, she was stopped at Hong Kong airport and told on the telephone by a Chinese official that she would not be granted a visa on arrival.
Lin, who is an actress and classically trained pianist, told Reuters from Hong Kong's international airport that she was prevented from boarding a Dragon Air flight to Sanya before further adding that there has been no response from the Chinese authorities so far.
Meanwhile, the Chinese Embassy in Ottawa has declined to comment on Lin's visa application but issued a statement on Thursday saying that "China welcomes all lawful activities organized in China by international organizations or agencies, including the Miss World pageant."
Lin was born in China and moved to Canada as an adolescent. She is reportedly a practitioner of Falun Gong, the Buddhism-inspired spiritual movement that is deemed in China as an evil cult.
It turned out that Lin has been quite vocal about Chinese political repression, both before and following her coronation as Miss Canada in Vancouver in May, The Guardian reported.
Earlier, Lin had voiced her concern that her rising public profile was being targeted by Chinese authorities and that her father, who still lives in China, is being harassed by the local authorities.
Unlike other contestants, Lin never received an invitation letter from the Chinese organizers of the event that would have allowed her to get the necessary government approval.