Sunday, December 30, 2012

December 29 protest outside of the Taipei Arena

One of Su Beng's Taiwan Independence Action motorcade propaganda trucks at the Taipei Arena. Photo courtesy of: 李述儒




On December 29 Su Beng was amongst those staging a protest outside of the Taipei Arena against a controversial Chinese music concert that was to take place there.

The controversy began on November 30th when the organizers of the Chinese Music Chart awards (aka the Chinese Grammy awards) announced in Beijing that the 2012 award presentation ceremony would be held in Taipei to mark the chart's 20th anniversary. This declaration came as a complete surprise to Taiwan's authorities and Taiwan's opposition parties felt that it was an affront to Taiwan's sovereignty. Also of concern were the award ceremony's 16 award categories, which are divided into two groups-- China and Hong Kong/Taiwan. After much deliberation, and at the request of Taiwan's authorities, the event was changed from an awards show to a concert and the mention of geographic areas were based on the legal terms used by Taiwan-- the Taiwan area, the Mainland Area, Hong Kong and Macau.

The story was covered on television in Taiwan's evening news here: 
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