A teenage K-pop star apologized on Friday after coming under fire for waving a Taiwanese flag.
Tzuyu (Chou Tzuyu), the youngest member of JYP Entertainment's recently debuted girl group TWICE, apologized on YouTube for upsetting Chinese nationals. Controversy erupted after a Chinese entertainer came out against Tzuyu's alleged pro-Taiwan independence view after she was seen waving a Taiwanese flag in a photoshoot.
The video featured a dejected looking Tzuyu, apologizing for causing controversy over her actions.
"I'm sorry," said the 16-year-old idol in the video. "I should have apologized earlier."
In the video, Tzuyu said that she believed China, including Taiwan, is a whole single entity.
"I didn't know how to react to this situation," she said. "I didn't dare to face everyone directly, so I'm only here now. There is only 1 China. The two parts are always one."
Earlier this week, a pro-China, Taiwan-born singer named Huang An claimed that Tzuyu supports Taiwan's independence from mainland China after Tzuyu waved the Korean and Taiwanese flags on the Korean television show, "My Little Television."
Following Huang's allegations, Tzuyu came under fire in China for being a voice of the Taiwanese independence movement.
She also attracted negative attention for saying that she was Taiwanese, rather than Chinese.
Prior to Tzuyu's apology video, JYP Entertainment announced that Tzuyu would be halting all promotional activities in China for the time being.
On Jan. 14, JYP Entertainment's CEO Park Jin Young issued a statement denying the claims of the idol's alleged political views.
"Tzuyu is not involved in any [form] of Taiwanese independence speech and the opinion that Tzuyu has shown online support for Taiwanese independence is not true," said Park, in a post on Weibo. "The company [JYP Entertainment] favorably supports the principle of one-unilateral China."
Following the statement, Twice withdrew from planned performances on mainland Chinese shows ahead of the Lunar New Year after Chinese users trended the hashtag #BoycottJYP on a variety of social media sites.
The entire text from the video is as follows:
"Hello everyone. I have something to say to all of you. I am Tzuyu. I'm sorry, I should have apologized earlier. I didn't dare to face all of you earlier because I didn't know how to react to the current situation. There is only one China, Taiwan and China are part of the same country. I have always been proud of my identity as a Chinese. As a Chinese, during my activities in China, due to my words and actions, I have caused harm to my company and to netizens. I feel very sorry and ashamed. I have decided to suspend all my activities in China and reflect on my actions. Once again, I'm very very sorry." (Translation by Anna Cheang)
Read Kpopstarz writer Adrienne Stanley's take on the political tension HERE.
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Tamar Herman is a multi-media journalist and the co-founder of KultScene. She is a freelance writer and copy editor, and has written for MTV Iggy, Noisey, and Paste Magazine.
