Jackie Chan's China comments prompt backlash
By MIN LEE,AP Entertainment Writer AP -
Monday, April 20
HONG KONG - Action star Jackie Chan's comments
wondering whether Chinese people "need to be controlled" have drawn
sharp rebuke in his native Hong Kong and in Taiwan.
Chan told a business forum in the southern Chinese province of
Hainan that a free society may not be beneficial for China's
authoritarian mainland.
"I'm not sure if it's good to have freedom or not," Chan said
Saturday. "I'm gradually beginning to feel that we Chinese need to
be controlled. If we're not being controlled, we'll just do what we
want."
He went on to say that freedoms in Hong Kong and Taiwan made
those societies "chaotic."
Chan's comments drew applause from a predominantly Chinese
audience of business leaders, but did not sit well with lawmakers
in Taiwan and Hong Kong.
"He's insulted the Chinese people. Chinese people aren't pets,"
Hong Kong pro-democracy legislator Leung Kwok-hung told The
Associated Press. "Chinese society needs a democratic system to
protect human rights and rule of law."
Another lawmaker, Albert Ho, called the comments "racist,"
adding: "People around the world are running their own countries.
Why can't Chinese do the same?"
Former British colony Hong Kong enjoys Western-style civil
liberties and some democratic elections under Chinese rule. Half of
its 60-member legislature is elected, with the other half picked by
special interest groups. But Hong Kong's leader is chosen by a
panel stacked with Beijing loyalists.
In democratically self-ruled Taiwan, which split from mainland
China during a civil war in 1949, legislator Huang Wei-che said
Chan himself "has enjoyed freedom and democracy and has reaped the
economic benefits of capitalism. But he has yet to grasp the true
meaning of freedom and democracy."
Chan's comments were reported by news outlets in Hong Kong and
Taiwan, but were ignored by the mainland Chinese press.
Although Chan was a fierce critic of the brutal crackdown on
pro-democracy protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in June
1989, which killed at least hundreds, he has not publicly
criticized China's government in recent years and is immensely
popular on the mainland.
He performed during the opening and closing ceremonies of the
Beijing Olympics and took part in the Olympic torch relay.
Chan also is vice chairman of the China Film Association, a key
industry group.
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http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20090419/ten-as-hong-kong-people-jackie-chan-1st-5e343d7.html
