Madonna (Photo : YouTube)
The public use of the Taiwanese flag by a celebrity is sure to anger China. The latest artist to court the ire of Chinese fans is pop diva Madonna who wore a Taiwanese flag on Thursday at the Taipei leg of her Rebel Heart tour.
The use of the Taiwanese flag, which happened as Madonna sang an encore, angered Chinese fans but made Taiwanese fans happy. The use of the flag is seen as boosting further Taiwan’s insistence that it is an independent nation, worsened by the election in January of Tsai Ing-Wen, a known anti-Beijing politician, as Taiwan’s next president.
As of result of what Madonna did, Taiwanese fans applauded her for supporting the tiny nation. But Weibo users were not happy and showed their disagreement.
One user asked, “Is Taiwan a country? I am laughing to death … you are just a region.” Another pointed out that Madonna’s draping the Taiwanese flag would not translate to the area being recognized by the United Nations.
Madonna’s Rebel Heart Asian leg only covers Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau, but excludes mainland China.
Besides Madonna, other artists who became a target of China anger are America singer Katy Perry and Taiwanese K-Pop singer Cho Tsu Yu.
In 2015, Katy also donned the Taiwanese flag and a gold dress filled with sunflowers which symbolizes the student-led anti-China protest in 2014. In November, Chou Tsu Yu has to apologize twice for waiving the country’s flag during a South Korean variety show, aired that month. She actually did it to tell Korean viewers that she is from Taiwan since their group, TWICE, is made up of different nationalities.
