China Is Said to Rescind Invitation to Taiwan Children’s Choir

Note to Beijing - Taiwan is not, nor has it ever been - part of China.

so all your shenanigans may impress your internal audience - inviting Taiwanese on to your TV dating show 'If You Are The One' as if they were visitors from one of your 'provinces' - but the rest of the world instinctively knows the above - and some B52's have a few aerial gifts with your name on it if you choose to push your luck - with mushroom cloud signatures.

My god, but the Chinese leadership is full of churlish cowards.

Coongratulations to the choir. One is honored by being considered the enemy of a police state.

This is nothing more than an early indication of the relation between China and
Taiwan under DPP to come. Stay tuned.

If they'd actually shown up, the children would likely have been imprisoned for months on some trumped-up charges.

A recent episode in YouTube shows a fake Taiwanese reporter chased and humiliated an old retired Taiwanese worker because his parents were from mainland China more than 60 years ago. It caused an uproar & anger in news media in Taiwan. But Ms. Tsai and her government did nothing to reprimand the reporter. Her tolerance to violence and irresponsibility caused greater concern and anxiety in the society. This is not good for Taiwan.

The cultural, societal, and business exchanges should be mutual. While former president Ma was in charge, everything went smoothly. Across the Taiwan Strait, both places are prospering. But when Ms. Tsai took over the government, she changed everything that she is subtly against Chinese culture, language, people, and business. Maybe ordinary people won't notice the subtle changes, but for an old hand watching Taiwan & China closely, I see tremendous changes now and more coming in the future.

Ms. Tsai took the road against China. That is what she will get in exchange. Just unfortunately, children were in between and got victimized.

It seems to be a very sad fact that the leaders of China are as dumb as the leaders of most of the rest of this world. Some of us once hoped that they would see where their competitors in other nations failed as they moved into the current world of totally integrated economics but I guess not. Maybe they also need to refocus their education systems where their people will actually learn what is needed to even begin to fix the problems of this world most of which are based upon a poor real education which focuses on memorization and not real learning.

Incidents like this show just how truly small the Chinese leadership really is.

Glad to see this type of classic modus operandi from China is now finally widely published in the international press. All Taiwanese young and old are used to seeing this type of petty shenanigans from China, whether it be government officials or civilian. Have you heard of the one where an entire busload of Chinese basketball team forfeiting a game because en route to a collegiate game they saw Taiwanese flags flying? What about the time when Chinese journalists stormed the stage of a video game championship because the Taiwanese kids were waving Taiwanese flags. Then there's the educators that walked out of an international conference because their Taiwanese counterparts were using Taiwan on their name cards. What about the Chinese students protesting the inclusion of Team Taiwan in Harvard's Model UN? Don't forget the Chinese diplomat that protested to the state department because some Oregon restaurant painted a pro Taiwan mural. My trip to the zoo is interrupted to report graffiti drawing in Taiwan as part of China on a map next to the panda exhibit. When traveling I had to call to get a travel site to change the silly "Chinese Taipei" to Taiwan. I even had to endure staredowns from the Chinese booth in my kid's elementary school multicultural night.

The above is the essence of being Taiwanese, and it just makes us more adamant of our Taiwanese identity. And these 50 kids will be no different, their Taiwanese identity is now solidly engraved in their hearts and minds.

China, the most populous country in the world, continues to engage in squabbles that benefits no country, including itself.

I really don't understand why China, the second largest economy in the world with a population of 1.4 billion people, will repress a small children's choral group in Taiwan just because they sang their national anthem at Presidential Inauguration ceremony. The magnitude of the strike is just too much of disproportion. Chinese civility and sense of morality grow with their economy in opposite directions.

Bloody minded cowards of the CCP...taking their frustrations out on children.
Way to win the hearts of the people of Taiwan.

The author fails to mention that President Tsai is part Paiwan herself, thus the choice of that choir.

More episodes such as this will be forthcoming soon. Let us tuning in and enjoy the show.

Both sides are "cautious", which should be appropriate. At least Tsai Ing-wen is not a firebrand as Chen Shui-bian, who was jailed after his presidency.