Taiwan demands correction, accuses China of changing name of Venice film festival

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Posted on: 08/10/2021 – 10:14 am Modified: 08/10/2021 – 10:12 am

Taipei (AFP)

Taiwan said Tuesday it requested a correction after organizers of the Venice Film Festival listed two films depicting the island as “Chinese Taipei”, allegedly under pressure from Beijing.

Director Tsai Ming-liang’s documentary “The Night” and Chung Mong-hong’s drama “The Falls” were submitted as Taiwan.

But organizers changed the name on the festival’s official website “due to protests from China,” the Taipei Foreign Ministry said.

Taiwan’s representative office in Italy has requested an immediate correction and has yet to receive a response, said Kendra Chen, deputy head of the ministry’s European affairs department.

“We will continue to communicate with the organizers and demand the correction through multiple channels to ensure that our films will not be subjected to unreasonable deletion and that our sovereignty will not be eclipsed,” she said during a virtual press briefing.

Films by Jane Campion, Pedro Almodovar and Paolo Sorrentino are among the competitors for the 78th edition of the festival in September.

AFP has contacted the organizers of the film festival for comment.

Born in Malaysia and based in Taiwan, Tsai is one of the island’s most acclaimed directors.

His 1994 feature film “Vive L’Amour” won the coveted Golden Lion in Venice and “Stray Dogs” received the Grand Jury Prize in 2013.

But Taiwanese artists often find themselves excluded from international events, or forced to enter under names Beijing deems acceptable.

Taiwanese athletes are also to compete under the name “Chinese Taipei”.

Authoritarian China claims an autonomous democratic Taiwan and has vowed to seize it one day, by force if necessary.

He is reluctant to use the name Taiwan or its official title, the Republic of China, on the world stage.

International bodies that do not use Beijing’s preferred name risk angering the government and being kicked out of its huge lucrative market.

China has stepped up diplomatic, military and economic pressure on Taiwan since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016, as it rejects its position that the island is part of “one China.”

He has also pressured a growing number of international companies to call Taiwan Chinese Taipei or “Taiwan, China” in recent years.

AFP 2021

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