#Newspaper

Thai Actor, Bright, Apologizes to China Over His Girlfriend’s Twitter Scandal

//“So pretty, looks just like a Chinese girl.”... “What style is this?” Weeraya responded, “Taiwanese girl.” This prompted a Twitter war between Chinese and Thai netizens as many Chinese netizens felt offended and disrespected by Weeraya’s actions. Chinese netizens on Weibo also started campaigns to boycott Bright and subbing teams vowed to stop subbing his series, “2gether: The Series”, which was really popular in China at the time.

//Bright remained silent on the issue until June 20. He uploaded a video on Weibo and apologized to China... had started out the video apologizing for his own mistake first... was sorry for “mistakenly referring to Taiwan as a country in a travel show” he hosted talking about Thailand and Taiwan... he was only introducing tourist destinations and wasn’t trying to impose any political agendas.

//When asked why he stayed silent on the accusations of insulting China and the Chinese people, Bright apologized and explained that he thinks it was a misunderstanding. He respects China and each person. He has never thought about insulting any race. Bright also apologized...

//Bright also expressed that he has Chinese heritage and definitely wouldn’t look down on Chinese people or ethnic Chinese. Lastly, Bright expressed his apologies in Chinese: “Hello everyone, I am Bright. I am sorry to China. I am sorry to you all.” Unfortunately, many Chinese netizens didn’t accept his apology. They left a lot of comments telling him to “get lost!” There were a minority of fans who left supporting comments.

//Watch the video here: https://www.weibo.com/tv/v/J7yEfvGLX?fid=1034:4518014322671659

Further reading:
Milk Tea Alliance Takes on China's Little Pinks in Meme War
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/19818

Full Article: 38jiejie, (20-Jun)

#SorryToChina #Kowtow #Thailand #Bright #Twitter #MemeWar #SharpPower #Taiwan #Nationalism

#Newspaper
Apple closes Chinese App Store loophole, causing thousands of games to be removed

//Apple will start removing thousands of games from its Chinese App Store in July as a result of a policy that requires all paid games or games with in-app purchases to be licensed by Chinese regulators

// The action marks the end of a loophole that allowed developers to sell games on the platform while they were awaiting approval.

//The measures are expected to impact at least one-third of the reportedly 60,000 games currently listed on Apple’s Chinese App Store that are either paid or feature in-app purchases and which currently lack a license. For some game developers, that could mean losing all revenue from Apple’s second-largest app market.

//major Android app stores have enforced the requirement to have a license prior to publication in China since 2016. However, the situation with Android app stores in China is different to iOS since these are run by local players like Tencent, Oppo, and Huawei.

// Google does not offer its Google Play Store in China.

//The news of the removals comes in the same month that Apple removed a pair of podcasting apps from its Chinese App Store at the request of the Chinese government.

Full Article: The Verge, (22-Jun)

#Apple #IOS #games #Android #license #Censorship #Kowtow #Tencent #Oppo #Huawei

Canadians interrogated in China are the “ bargaining chips” used by China for the latest hostage diplomacy deal to free Ms Meng Wanzhou

After the 18th month of their detention, two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, were accused of espionage by China. Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Spavor, a businessman, were arrested in 2018 shortly after Meng Wanzhou – an executive of China’s state controlled giant Huawei – was detained under US request. The two men have not been able to meet with their lawyer or their families since their arbitrary detention. Instead, they were allegedly exposed to interrogation for six to eight hours a day and exposed to 24-hour artificial lighting.

In comparison, Ms. Meng, according to herself, finally had time to read a book and carefully finish an oil painting. To make things worse, China’s state-controlled court system has an almost 100% conviction rate.

Meanwhile, China constantly implies the fate of the two Canadians are linked to the outcome of Meng’s case. A Chinese journalist even claimed that Canada failed to realize Meng was worth 10 – if not more – Kovrig & Spavor, further exposing the nature of this hostage diplomacy. Behind it is the Han chauvinism and ultranationalism cultivated by the Chinese Communist Party over the years.

The ideology is deeply rooted in imperial China’s world view in which it sees itself the centre of the world for the rest to #kowtow to, sees its renewal as China become increasingly convinced of its uprising power.

#China #Canada #Huawei #MengWanZhou #Hostage

Source:
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-huaweis-meng-far-more-valuable-than-canadas-kovrig-and-spavor/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/world-asia-china-53104303?__twitter_impression=true

⬆️⬆️⬆️ Continue reading

#Australia #UNSW #Kowtow #Censorship
Australian University Deleted a Tweet Quoting Human Rights Organisation’s Support for Hong Kong after Facing Backlash from Chinese Students

The University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia tweeted an article previously quoting a human rights organisation’s statement that the human rights situation in Hong Kong was rapidly deteriorating and called for international pressure on China. The post was deleted next day morning after an apparent backlash from Chinese students. A UNSW spokesperson explained deleting the tweet because the comment was ”being misconstrued as representative the university”.

On Friday, 31 July 2020, according to The Guardian’s report, the UNSW published an article on its website quoting Elaine Pearson, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch. Pearson said that she was approached by a member of the university’s media team to give her views on the present situation in Hong Kong and how the international community respond.

On the same day, UNSW’s official Twitter account quoted Pearson’s comment in the interview that now is a pivotal moment to pay attention to Hong Kong’s rapidly deteriorating situation, and that “‘now is the time’ for the international community to put pressure on China to wind back recent infringements on human rights in Hong Kong”.

The tweet drew strong dissent from UNSW Chinese students who demanded an apology from the university. They shared a post on WeChat calling for a boycott and unfollow the university’s official Twitter. Global Times, a Chinese state English newspaper, highly concerned on this incident and published a report to criticise that article as interference in Hong Kong affair. The report quoted a UNSW student from mainland China that he and other students were in talks with the university to demand an apology for the tweet.

Source: Stand News #Aug3

#Kowtow
Chinese Netizens Attack Japanese Virtual Youtubers for Calling Taiwan a Country

Two virtual YouTubers, Akai Haato and Kiryu Coco, have been slammed by Chinese netizens after the two referred Taiwan to as a country in their videos, respectively streamed on September 24 and 25, 2020 on the Chinese platform Bilibili.

The two talents belong to Hololive, a Japanese virtual YouTuber agency owned and operated by Japan's Cover Corp. On September 27, Cover Corp issued a statement, announcing the suspension of the activities of #AkaiHaato and #KiryuCoco for 3 weeks.

Netizens from around the world replied the tweet with messages and memes mocking the company for kowtowing to China.

Source: Liberty Times #Sept27
https://news.ltn.com.tw/news/world/breakingnews/3305068

#VTubers #Youtubers #Bilibili #Hololive #CoverCorp

#Kowtow
China's CCTV said the NBA continued to Release Goodwill after the Suspension, Rebroadcasting from Tomorrow

NBA Team Houston Rockets Director Daryl Morey supported Hong Kong democracy on Twitter, causing dissatisfaction from China. At that time, CCTV announced that they would stop broadcasting events and “would investigate all cooperation and exchanges involving the NBA”. After a year, CCTV indicated today that they would rebroadcast NBA from tomorrow (10th October). The spokesperson stated that he noted NBA continued to show their goodwill, including “expressed holiday blessings to Chinese fans” on National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival and “Put active efforts in areas including supporting the Chinese people to fight COVID-19 pandemic”.

CCTV stated today (9th October), “Basketball has a broad mass base and viewing demand in China”. As a result, the CCTV Sports Channel would resume broadcasting the NBA competitions as “normal broadcast arrangement” on the morning of 10th October, Hong Kong time. The NBA 19/20 season has reached the finals, and it would be the fifth game by the time of rebroadcasting. For the time being, Los Angeles Lakers led the Miami Heat with 3:1 games, only one victory away from the championship.

The NBA team Houston Rockets Director Daryl Morey posted a “Stand with Hong Kong” photo on Twitter, indicating his support for Hong Kong democracy. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver showed his support for Morey to exercise freedom of speech. CCTV first announced the suspension on broadcasting the competitions of Houston Rockets, then issued a statement about the immediate ban for NBA preseason broadcasting and would investigate all NBA-related cooperation and exchanges.

Source: Stand News #Oct09

https://bit.ly/37f45KR

#China #NBA #DarylMorey #HoustonRockets #LosAngelesLakers #MiamiHeat #CCTV #HongKong #HKdemocracy #StandWithHongKong

#Kowtow
Youtuber #UncleRoger deletes video co-produced with pro-democracy KOL to appease his Chinese fans

On January 10, 2021, Malaysian YouTuber, Uncle Roger, released a video he produced in partnership with #MikeChen, another YouTube food specialist.

Later on, after knowing that Mike Chen once criticized the Chinese authorities and backed Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters, Uncle Roger kowtowed and apologized to his Chinese fans, stating that the video has “triggered a host of negative impact on society.”

He quickly removed the video pleading Chinese fans to give him another chance, “I hope you can give Uncle Roger, who just entered China, a chance to improve!”

His move was criticised by many on Twitter. Nathan Law, Hong Kong pro-democracy activist in exile and the founding chairperson of Demosisto, wrote on his twitter that the comedian was “disgracefully sacrificing his basic morality to pander to his China fans.”

Nigel Ng, aka Uncle Roger, is a UK-based Malaysian comedian. He shot to fame in 2019 and gained over 3 million subscribers on his Youtube channel and 120 thousand fans on #Weibo, a Chinese social media platform.

Source: Stand News, #Jan14

#Haiyaa #SoWeak #NigelNg

#XinjiangCotton
Shares in Parent Company Drop as #Muji Features Xinjiang Cotton

Mutiple international brands have boycotted Xinjiang cotton exported by China due to reported forced labour and human rights violation by the Chinese Government.

Japanese brand #Muji, however, continues to feature the "Xinjiang Cotton" shirt collection under the "new products" section of their China website, as of March 25, 2021.

Muji's reaction was seen as an attempt to avoid from being targeted by Chinese netizens' call for boycotting foreign brands that refused to use Xinjiang cotton.

Nevertheless, Muji's parent company #RyohinKeikaku has seen its shares fall 6.8% on the morning of March 25, in Tokyo. According to Nikkei Asia. This suggests that "investors fear the company could be affected by the fallout".

Source: Nikkei Asia; Liberty Times News #Mar25

http://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Retail/Muji-features-Xinjiang-cotton-as-Chinese-netizens-lash-its-rivals

https://ec.ltn.com.tw/article/breakingnews/3479967

#Kowtow #CCPRules #Ugyhurs

#XinjiangCotton Incident: China's Lawyer Claims Termination Of Contract Due To Damage Of National Interest Would Not Require Any Compensation

As the Xinjiang cotton controversy continues to fester, many artists and celebrities including Eason Chan, Angelababy, Eddie Peng and Wang Yi Bo announced that they will terminate their endorsements with the brands involved in the incident.

The concern remains whether these actions are deemed to be in breach of the contract, and whether they will need to provide any compensation.

In China, a media outlet “Guancha News” quoted a Chinese lawyer explaining that artists can terminate their contrast without compensation by invoking the Civil Code’s “no abuse of civil rights to the detriment of national interest” provision.

The Hunan Provincial High People's Court in China also re-posted a short video on Weibo by “Legal Blogger”, saying that after the “D&G insult” incident, both parties will usually set a “misdeed clause” , where one party can unilaterally terminate the contract if the other party has made any “political mistakes”.

Source: Stand News #March26
https://bit.ly/3cpPBu4

#Kowtow #ChineseLaw #Celebrity #Compensation

#Propaganda
China Ordered #Amazon to Delete Reviews of #XiJinping’s Book

//Amazon.com Inc.’s efforts to curry favor with the Chinese government included quieting criticism of President Xi Jinping’s book on its Chinese outlet, according to a Reuters report.

The Amazon.cn entry for Xi’s “The Governance of China” had its ratings, comments and reviews scrubbed and disabled roughly two years ago in response to an edict from Beijing, the report said. Triggering the request were reviews rating the work at less than the maximum five stars, according to one of the unidentified people familiar with the incident...

The experience recounted in the report mirrors that of Apple Inc., which has grown increasingly compliant with Beijing in recent years. Apple complied with 97% of requests from the Chinese government for user device information in 2019, up significantly from 65% in 2014.

Reviews for Xi’s book of speeches and writings are blocked only on Amazon’s Chinese website. One Amazon.com entry has received 74% five-star reviews.

Other U.S. firms, such as Yahoo! and Microsoft Corp.’s LinkedIn, have, by contrast, exited the Chinese market this year, citing an increasingly challenging business and legal environment in the country.//

Read Reuters' report:
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/amazon-partnered-with-china-propaganda-arm-win-beijings-favor-document-shows-2021-12-17/

Source: Bloomberg; Reuters #Dec17

#CCP #Censorship #Kowtow