Taiwan to show Uighur film ahead of fest
Last Updated: Sunday, September 20, 2009 | 4:09 PM ET
CBC News
Officials in Taiwan's second-largest city say they will be showing a controversial documentary about the exiled leader of China's Uighur minority, but not during the city's film festival.
"To draw the curtains over this controversy as soon as possible, the film will be screened ahead of schedule," the city of Kaohsiung said in a statement released Sunday.
Rebiya Kadeer, president of the World Uighur Congress, has been blamed by China for violent unrest in its western Xinjiang region in July. She is the focus of the documentary The 10 Conditions of Love. (Mark Graham/Associated Press) The 10 Conditions of Love — about World Uighur Congress head Rebiya Kadeer — will be screened four times in the coming week, ahead of the festival, which runs Oct. 16-29.
Chinese authorities have labelled Kadeer a "criminal" and accuse her of fomenting ethnic riots in the country's Xinjiang region in July that resulted in at least 200 deaths.
Kaohsiung is a stronghold of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party and its mayor, Chen Chu, is a prominent member.
Local reports say the city had been under pressure from businesses that have suffered from massive cancellations from tour operators from the mainland.
Sunday's announcement dovetails with a visit by Zhu Shanlu, Communist Party chief from China's city of Nanjin, who has just arrived in Taiwan.
The film also incited a firestorm when it unspooled at the Melbourne Film Festival in August. Chinese diplomats urged festival organizers to withdraw it, and several Chinese films were withdrawn.
Chinese hackers concocted a campaign to jam the festival's website, which happened twice.
Chinese officials have already been bristling over a recent visit to Taiwan by Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
He was invited to provide comfort to Taiwanese victims of Typhoon Morakot. The Dalai Lama deemed his visit "non-political."
