President Tsai Ing-wen says that only by safeguarding democracy and national security can Taiwan enjoy the freedom to produce creative works.
Tsai’s comments came Monday, one day after a popular Taiwanese YouTuber, Potter King, refused to bow to pressure from China. In a Facebook post, the YouTuber said his Chinese partner demanded that he remove the word “president” from a video of him interacting with President Tsai.
Potter King said he refused to kowtow to China even if the company that owns his YouTube channel could stand to lose a lot of money. Potter King has over a million fans on Weibo, China’s most popular microblogging site. But he said he is no longer able to access to his Weibo account.
President Tsai said Monday that the censorship of creative works is unacceptable to Taiwan.
“We are a free and democratic society. Everyone has the freedom to produce creative works. Addressing [me] as Taiwan’s president or even having a chat with me is a normal thing. If a chat about ‘Taiwan’s president’ is not allowed in the video, I think it’s a gross violation of democracy, freedom and the values that we all cherish," said Tsai.
Potter King’s company says it may withdraw from the Chinese market in order to uphold democratic values within the work they produce.