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Taiwan film festival opens with Kadeer film

AFP

An image of exiled Uyghur Muslim leader Rebiya Kadeer is seen on a theatre screen at a cinema in Taiwan’s second-largest city Kaohsiung on 23 September 2009. File photo/AFP/Getty Images/Sam Yeh/Taiwan

Taiwan’s second-largest city Kaohsiung Friday opened its annual film festival, featuring a biopic about exiled Uyghur leader Rebiya Kadeer despite protests from the local tourism sector and China.

Four screenings of “The 10 Conditions of Love” about Kadeer, blamed by Beijing for ethnic unrest in her home region of Xinjiang in July, are scheduled during the two-week Kaohsiung Film Festival, organisers said.

The film was initially removed from the south Taiwanese festival after the local tourism sector complained about a steep fall in business amid reports of a boycott by Chinese tourists.

But Kaohsiung officials last month decided to put the film back into the programme, just days after the island’s government barred a visit by Kadeer, reviled in Beijing as a “criminal”.

“We regret the city government’s decision despite our protests,” Tseng Fu-hsing, secretary general of Kaohsiung Tourism Association, told AFP.

“We are the real victims here. We hope the officials will not provoke China for partisan interests,” he said.

Kaohsiung hotels have seen business drop about 30 percent, not just because of the Kadeer biopic row, but also because of a visit by the Dalai Lama to the city and surrounding areas in August and early September, according to Tseng.

A Chinese official in charge of Taiwan affairs this week confirmed that mainland tour groups were avoiding Kaohsiung.

“Some forces in Kaohsiung joined hands with Tibetan and Xinjiang independence forces to create trouble and impact China’s core interests,” said Fan Liqing, spokeswoman of the Taiwan Affairs Office.

“This hurt Chinese people’s feelings and it’s only natural for them to show their dissatisfaction over this,” she told reporters.

Beijing accuses Kadeer of orchestrating ethnic violence in the northwest region of Xinjiang in July, which left about 200 dead. She denies the charges.

Ties with China have improved markedly since Beijing-friendly President Ma Ying-jeou took office last year but were strained following the Dalai Lama’s visit.

Beijing reportedly is planning to sign a key financial pact with Taipei later this month as a reward for the ban on Kadeer.

Copyright © 2009 AFP

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