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He was close to the Taiwanese president and was immediately boycotted in mainland China. This “vlogger”, a blogger who makes videos, dared to interview Tsai Ing-wen with humor. This obviously did not happen at all in China.
From our correspondent in Beijing,
The interview didn't make social media laugh at all, at least in Beijing. Chen Chia-Chin, aka King Potter, is famous in Taiwan, but also in mainland China where he has hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
But since the youtubeur made a video, a filmed interview conceived according to its author as a " joyful meeting " with Tsai Ing-wen . The current Taiwanese president is a candidate for re-election on January 11.
The young vlogger intended, he said, to encourage young people to go and vote on election day. The video overflowed the comments, sparking an avalanche of criticism on the networks of the People's Republic of China.
" Go away, the Taiwanese independentist !" "
We are talking about Internet users authorized to express themselves, as you know, Chinese networks are very closely watched. Censorship cuts everything that is wrong with official discourse. The official discourse is that Taiwan is a rebel island which must return as quickly as possible to the mother country.
President Tsai Ing-wen, who enjoys a comfortable lead in the polls, is also considered by the regime as a dangerous separatist. And we find that in the comments. Here are a few, and it's pretty radical: " Taiwan is not a country, go Taiwanese independentist !" "
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It is also the title used in the video to appoint the head of state that is disputed: “ Where did you hear about a president ? In Taiwan, there is only one chief executive. "
Or even more violent: " My best wishes to the Taiwanese, Hong Kong, Tibetan and Uighur freelancers. I want them to leave China and settle in another country. Defend our islands ! Obviously an allusion to the revolt which has been brewing for six months in Hong Kong. The video was deleted from the Chinese web on December 11.
The platform reacts first
The mainland Chinese platform, Papitube, which distributed Chen Chia-Chin's videos, was the first to respond. Papitube first asked the young vlogger to comply with the principle of one China defended by Chinese power.
In particular, he was asked to withdraw the terms of president, or of Taiwan, as a sovereign nation, which the young vlogger refused, finding such a request absurd. He also found it inappropriate the patriotism of continental Internet users compared to a video which was once again intended to be light and intended to motivate the youngest to move to the polls.
Result: end of the contract for King Potter on the continent. The video still had, before being censored, more than 3.3 million views and was disgusted more than 200,000 times, a sign that not everyone agrees with the critics.
And this is not an isolated case. Last week, there was a flood of patriotic posts following the tweet of an Arsenal player criticizing the repression of Muslim minorities in western China.
State television immediately suppressed the broadcast of an English club meeting. Regarding Taiwan, many international companies have been under this kind of pressure asking them to change the name Taiwan on their site in China, in particular.