K-pop singer takes center stage at Taiwan election

Tapei, 16 Jan (EFE).- A teenage K-pop star has become a major focus of Saturday’s presidential election in Taiwan after she issued an apology on the eve of the vote for waving a Taiwanese flag.

Sixteen-year-old K-pop singer Chou Tzu-Yu apologised by video for holding up a Taiwanese flag on television, and said she was “proud to be Chinese”.

The singer’s activities in China have been threatened because of the incident.

Last night’s apology came amid mounting fears over China’s increasing influence over the self-ruled island, with Taiwan’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) tipped to win the vote.

Referring to the video, the DPP’s Tsai Ing-wen – who is expected to become the self-ruled island’s first female leader – said no one should be “pressured to make statements”.

“This incident has deeply damaged the feeling of all Taiwanese,” Tsai said after voting in New Taipei.

Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou in Taipei also addressed the apology.

“She had done nothing wrong but was forced to apologise,” he said.

Voting began today at 8am local time (12am GMT) and will close at 4pm (8am GMT).

Pre-election polls suggested that Tsai was at least 20 percent ahead of her main rival, ruling party candidate Eric Chu. EFE

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Category: Daily Witness, National