Not So Fast

Contrary to an announcement made on Nov. 30 in Beijing by the organizers of the Chinese Music Chart Awards, the ceremony for the awards will not take place in Taipei, according to the Taipei Times.

The co-organizer of the ceremony, Taipei Artist Agency Association, announced Dec. 6 that the Taiwanese government will not approve the ceremony, reversing an earlier statement made by the TAAA, and thus the Taiwan event will simply be staged as a series of performances.

The Mainland Affairs Council said  the government would be unlikely to approve the awards show as it was “politically sensitive,” adding that it was “unwise” of the organizers to unilaterally announce that the ceremony would be held in Taipei.

“We simply won’t agree to it,” a representative said.

The ceremony was to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the chart and was touted as being one of the biggest events for Mandarin pop music ever. However, opposition to the event claimed it would “denigrate” Taiwanese sovereignty because the categories are divided into two groups, one set of awards for China, and the other for Hong Kong/Taiwan, thus implying that Taiwan is, like Hong Kong, a territory of China.

The organizer said it would abide by the council’s demands and now plans to hold the awards ceremony in Beijing. Taiwan’s Minister of Culture said he would happily welcome any Chinese musicians planning to come to Taipei to perform in the related concert.