Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/01/18
By: Christie Chen

●Jan. 8

In a series of posts on his Sina Weibo microblog, Huang An (黃安), a 53-year-old singer born in Taiwan and based in China, accuses 16-year-old Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), better known as Tzuyu, the only Taiwanese member of the popular South Korean girl group Twice, of supporting Taiwan independence.

Huang mentions Chou’s waving of the Republic of China’s (Taiwan) national flag on a South Korean TV show last year, and accuses her of working with the independence-leaning Taiwanese media outlet Sanlih E-Television, which he says has been promoting her as “the pride of Taiwan independence celebrities” and the “pride of Taiwan” without offering any proof.

Prior to this, Huang had been calling out Taiwanese celebrities he suspected were pro-Taiwan independence on his microblog — a pattern of behavior that has drawn widespread criticism in Taiwan. Some of these celebrities have had their shows in China canceled as a result, and Huang seems to be trying to prevent Twice from appearing on Chinese New Year variety shows.

Taiwanese media begins reporting on the incident.