 |
| Anastasia Lin, Canada's Miss World representative 2015 |
Anastasia Lin, a 25-year-old China-born actress who was crowned Miss World Canada in May, was unable to obtain a visa in advance of her arrival for the contest finals this week in Sanya, on the southern Chinese resort island of Hainan.
Based on various international reports, Lin apparently tried to enter China anyway based on a rule that allows Canadian citizens to obtain a landing visa upon arrival in Sanya.
Lin, who is a practitioner of Falun Gong, a religious group that says is repressed in China, told reporters at Hong Kong's international airport that she was prevented from boarding a Dragonair flight to Sanya. She said there has been no response from the Chinese authorities so far.
"It's very difficult to stand up for what you believe in," she said, adding: "I need to figure out what to do next."
 |
| Anastasia Lin, stuck in Hong Kong. |
The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa said that Lin was not welcome in China, a Canadian newspaper reported on Wednesday.
"China does not allow any persona non grata to come to China," Yundong Yang, an embassy spokesman, told the Toronto Globe and Mail. "I simply do not understand why some people pay special attention to this matter and have raised it repeatedly."
"China does not allow any persona non grata to come to China," Yundong Yang, an embassy spokesman, told the Toronto Globe and Mail. "I simply do not understand why some people pay special attention to this matter and have raised it repeatedly."
Hmm. That response could explain the problem.
Lin testified at a U.S. congressional hearing on religious persecution in China in July. In her testimony, she said she wanted to "speak for those in China that are beaten, burned and electrocuted for holding to their beliefs", according to the text of her statement on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's website.
Lin, who moved to Canada from China when she was 13, told a U.S. congressional hearing in July that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed so their organs could be harvested and sold for transplants. The 25-year-old actress also plays an imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner in an upcoming Canadian movie, "The Bleeding Edge."
Lin alleges that after she won the Canadian title, Chinese security agents visited her father who still lives in China in an apparent attempt to intimidate her into silence. Although she hadn't received an invitation letter from organizers, and therefore was unable to obtain a Chinese visa, she said she decided to travel to China anyway in hopes of obtaining a visa on arrival.
Lin testified at a U.S. congressional hearing on religious persecution in China in July. In her testimony, she said she wanted to "speak for those in China that are beaten, burned and electrocuted for holding to their beliefs", according to the text of her statement on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China's website.
Lin, who moved to Canada from China when she was 13, told a U.S. congressional hearing in July that tens of thousands of Falun Gong practitioners have been killed so their organs could be harvested and sold for transplants. The 25-year-old actress also plays an imprisoned Falun Gong practitioner in an upcoming Canadian movie, "The Bleeding Edge."
Lin alleges that after she won the Canadian title, Chinese security agents visited her father who still lives in China in an apparent attempt to intimidate her into silence. Although she hadn't received an invitation letter from organizers, and therefore was unable to obtain a Chinese visa, she said she decided to travel to China anyway in hopes of obtaining a visa on arrival.
Miss World pageant organizers said in an email they had no information as to why a visa was not granted to Lin, but said she may be offered a place in the 2016 Miss World contest.
Also on the unofficial blacklist are actors Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Harrison Ford and Richard Gere, all of whom have taken strong public stands on human rights.
Lin, it turns out, is not the first beauty queen to attract China's ire, according to the New York Times. Just last weekend officials with the Miss Earth contest being held in Austria, reportedly acting on China’s behest, ejected the contestant from Taiwan after she insisted on wearing a sash that said “Miss Taiwan ROC” and refused to wear the replacement that said “Miss Chinese Taipei” — which is China's attempt to have the world recognize that the self-governed Taiwan is part of Peoples Republic of China.
Lin, it turns out, is not the first beauty queen to attract China's ire, according to the New York Times. Just last weekend officials with the Miss Earth contest being held in Austria, reportedly acting on China’s behest, ejected the contestant from Taiwan after she insisted on wearing a sash that said “Miss Taiwan ROC” and refused to wear the replacement that said “Miss Chinese Taipei” — which is China's attempt to have the world recognize that the self-governed Taiwan is part of Peoples Republic of China.
LIN'S STATEMENT: Via social media, Lin issued this statement to the press.
Lin, who apparently is media-savvy, began speaking to news agencies in Hong Kong about her David-vs-Goliath plight and was able to get international attention. In some ways, her predicament is just what China's critics want in order to draw attention to the country's repressive tactics against free-thinking or anything contrary that questions the status quo.
"If they start to censor beauty pageants — how pathetic is that?" Lin told The Associated Press in Hong Kong.
###
No comments:
Post a Comment