The following censorship instructions, issued to the media by government authorities, have been leaked and distributed online. The name of the issuing body has been omitted to protect the source.
Regarding the Taiwan independence speech at the Golden Horse Awards ceremony, all websites must immediately cease live streaming and live broadcasts. (November 17, 2018) [Chinese]
At the annual Golden Horse award ceremony, Asia’s most prestigious film honors, director Fu Yue received an award for her independent documentary, “Our Youth in Taiwan,” which takes place during the Sunflower Movement. During her acceptance speech, she became very emotional and ended by saying that she hopes Taiwan will one day be treated as “an independent entity.”
Fu Yue’s parents are from Malaysia and Indonesia but she was born and raised in Taiwan. In her speech, she said: “Many people think this film is about politics, but actually it is about youth. Youth is wonderful, but youth is also the time when it is easy to make mistakes and to project the wrong expectations onto others. This mistake not only occurs between people to people, but also country to country. I hope my country can be treated as a truly independent entity. This is my biggest wish for me as a Taiwanese.” The ceremony, which was being broadcast live in China, was immediately cut off. Many of the mainland Chinese participants in the ceremony later boycotted the post-ceremony dinner.
Since directives are sometimes communicated orally to journalists and editors, who then leak them online, the wording published here may not be exact. Some instructions are issued by local authorities or to specific sectors, and may not apply universally across China. The date given may indicate when the directive was leaked, rather than when it was issued. CDT does its utmost to verify dates and wording, but also takes precautions to protect the source. See CDT’s collection of Directives from the Ministry of Truth
